UNCHANGEABLE
by aliceengland
Summary: Bella Swan has decided to move back to Forks to give her Mom a chance at a life with her new husband. But after rekindling her childhood friendships with the Quileute boys, she soon finds herself more attached to one very unexpecting native american. Little does Bella know, it was his fault she felt this way. Paul Lahote / Bella Swan Fanfiction. Rated M: Contains graphic scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**After reading various fanfictions on Paul/Bella relationships, I have decided to write my own. When I read these other stories I was always creating new story lines in my head, so I decided to write an actual story on Paul/Bella! I want this story to be quite long as the stories I read were very short and I feel like they missed a lot of important details in the build up to the relationship. So, you won't be disappointed reading my story if you love Paul/Bella! Please enjoy my story and review :)**

 **Chapter 1:**

It's my first day at a new school, great. I had been in Forks for less than a month, and the summer break was over. Mom wanted to go travelling with Phil and I wasn't going to be the one to stop her from going, as I usually did when I was younger. But now I was 18, and my mom suggested I stay with my dad, Charlie. I hadn't seen Charlie for almost 6 months, but it was hard to see him when I lived in Phoenix and he in Washington. I had never really permanently lived with Charlie, my mom having primary custody of me as I was growing up, but now the custody agreement was moot, and so I decided it would be best to live with my dad so mom could live her life. It would be a good thing, for me and for Charlie, I think.

I had myself showered and dressed for school, wearing light blue skinny jeans, brown military boots and a white ¾ length sleeve top. I had my hair in its usual form; half up, half down. My books were ready in my purple backpack on the bed and I headed for my car. Charlie had bought me a truck from his good friend Billy Black, whom I have grown up with as much as had with Charlie, but it had broken down a week into the purchase so Charlie opted for me to get something a little more modern. I locked the front door and headed towards my new car; a white Nissan Juke. I was driving down the highway listening to the radio playing my favourite song; One Dance by Drake. Pulling into the school parking lot, I looked around for a parking space, and found one next to a silver Volvo. It was quite far away from the entrance, but it would have to do. I picked up my timetable from the receptionist and saw that my first class was Math. I was proud of myself for following the directions correctly, and got to the class 5 minutes early. The door was open so I assumed we could go and take our seats. But I waited outside of the class as the teacher would want to introduce me to the class, brilliant.

"Isabella Swan, please come in" the teacher motioned for me into the class. Okay, just breathe, it'll be fine. I was stood at the front of the class facing various looming faces; some were interested, others were not very nice.

"Everyone, this is Isabella Swan, she is new to Forks School and I expect everyone to treat her with kindness and offer help if it is needed" the teacher began, and motioned for me to take a seat next to a girl with short brown hair. I soon found out this girl was called Jessica, and boy could she talk. It was nice to have someone take to me so quickly, and I soon got involved with her topics of conversation. After the hour class had finished, I felt very comfortable with Jessica, and we left the class arm in arm. After my Spanish class, it was lunch. Jessica was waiting outside of my class for me to walk me to the cafeteria. She pulled me towards a table full of chattering people and introduced me.

"Guys, this is Bella, she's Chief Swan's daughter. Her first day, right?" she turned to ask me, and I simply nodded. I sat down next to Jessica and a girl with long black hair. Everyone at the table took it in turns to introduce themselves. There was Jessica (of course), the other girl I was sat next to was Angela, Mike was sat opposite, and could not take his eyes off of me, great. Then there was Lauren, Tyler and Eric. They seemed nice enough, except Lauren, who kept throwing me daggers from across the table. Hmm, she would be difficult. I stayed quiet for most of lunch, I was much too shy to engage with this many new people all at once, so I listened to their conversation. They were talking about typical school stuff; the upcoming yearbook, past yearbooks, the school dance. I had zoned out after 5 minutes, just staring at a door across the hall. 4 people walked through, and I drew my full attention to them. They moved with grace, perfect balance. On thorough inspection, their skin seemed paler than most here, their features perfectly positioned on their face. They looked like angels. They walked over to a table in the far corner and claimed it. I turned to Jessica who was mid conversation with Tyler.

"Hey Jess, who are they?" I motioned with my head to the table in the corner. She looked at me, and then looked over, a smile forming on her face.

"Oh, they're the Cullens. They're like this perfect family, they're from up North, but the weird thing is, they're siblings, but they're like together. I mean, together together" she said, and Lauren formed a face of distaste.

"That boy sat on his own, who's he?" I asked, my attention was drawn to the boy sat in the middle of the group, but he seemed on his own, unlike the others huddled in their relationships.

"That's Edward Cullen, totally gorgeous obviously. But apparently, no one here is good enough for him" she said with a rejected tone. I wondered when he rejected Jessica's attempts at romance. The thought made me smile to myself. I heard Jessica mutter under her breath 'not that I care' and I assumed she was talking about Edward. I glanced subtly over my shoulder towards him. He was staring right at me. I should really turn back round, now being caught looking at this beautiful person. But I found myself continuing to stare. Jessica was talking to me, but I wasn't listening.

"... as if he'd go for you Bella, after rejecting all of the other girls here" she muttered, and I saw Edward laugh to himself. Strange, they weren't even talking at the table, so what was making him laugh?

Lunch was over, and my last class of the day was Science. I was happy to find myself sat at an empty desk. The class was just about to start, when Edward walked into the room, carrying his books. The teacher looked annoyed, but pointed him to the seat next to me. Brilliant, so much for my empty desk. As Edward approached the chair next to me, his face suddenly changed. His smile had disappeared, and he seemed to be forcing his body to continue walking to the seat. His hands balled up into fists, and he sat at his chair, and moved as far away from me as possible. He was leaning right on the end of the desk, and his face was turned away from me. This was going to be a long class.

The bell rang and the school day was over. I didn't meet up with any of my new friends and just went straight to my car. I was about 3 meters from it when I saw Edward stood next to the silver Volvo, that was next to my car. Great, I'm guessing that was his car then. He saw me looking at him and immediately got into his car. I took this opportunity to briskly walk to my own, and hopped in, turning the ignition on and driving out of the parking lot without a backward glance.

I pulled into my driveway and saw that Charlie's police cruiser was already there. A big black truck was also there. As I walked through the door, I heard voices in the living room.

"... so it's not been easy fishing you know, what with the threat of those bears and what not..." I could hear Charlie's voice.

"Bears this close to the Peninsula? It's highly unlikely but I can get a team from the reservation to take a look" Billy Black's voice. I walked into the living room, dumping my backpack onto the floor and saw Charlie and Billy sat on the couch and another boy from the reservation sat on the other chair.

"Hi dad" I said. Charlie turned around and got up, giving me a brisk hug.

"Bels, you remember Billy?" Charlie said, motioning to Billy. I walked over and shook Billy's hand.

"Of course, how could I forget" I said with a smile.

"My oh my Charlie, your little girls all grown up now" Billy said and Charlie laughed.

"She sure has, but she's still my baby girl" he said. They laughed, including the other boy. He had short cut black hair and wore a black t shirt and cargo pants. I could see a glimpse of a tattoo on his arm. He was looking at me with recognition.

"Bella, you probably won't remember me. I'm Jacob, we used to make mud pies together when we were little" he said, holding out his hand. I took his hand and gave it a shake.

"No of course, I remember. How have you been? I haven't seen you in what, 5 years?" I said with a small laugh. It was sad really, Jacob and I grew up together, we were best friends, and then I moved away permanently with my mom and my visits with Charlie died down, so our friendship sort of faded away. I sat on the floor next to Jacob's chair, whilst Charlie and Billy continued their conversation on fishing.

"It's been 10 years Bella" he said with a laugh. Christ, 10 years? I remembered Jacob when he was younger, he was more carefree back then. Now he had grown a considerable amount, his facial features were that of a man now and he sported a tanned and muscular body. I had to stop myself from gawking.

"10 years? Are you serious? Wow, how could I forget?" I said stunned.

"It's fine, you had a lot going on back then, I wouldn't expect you to remember much" he chuckled. We talked for about an hour about when we were little, his school, my school and what we had been up to in the past 10 years.

"... so really, it's been pretty boring without you here Bella" Jacob said.

"Well, I'm back now, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon" I said, nudging his knee with my arm, trying to reassure him, as his face had fallen.

"Kids, Billy and I are heading down to the reservation, you in?" Charlie shouted from the kitchen.

"I haven't been to the reservation in years! Has it changed much?" I asked Jacob. He laughed and shook his head.

"If only it had changed, it's still as boring as ever!" he said. Charlie let me drive in my car to the reservation, driving behind Billy's truck. It took about 20 minutes to get there, and soon I was starting to remember the surroundings of La Push. We pulled up to Billy's house, a small wooden red house, with steps and a ramp for Billy leading to the front door. There was a garage a couple of meters away from the main house, and the whole place was surrounded by woodland. It was peaceful here, as I had always remembered it. Jacob helped Billy out of his truck and into his wheelchair and we headed for the small house. There was a distant howl from the woods.

"Billy I'm telling you, whatever that is, it's getting closer. Better keep the kids out of the woods" Charlie said, wheeling Billy towards the ramp. Billy didn't reply, instead he stared straight into the wood line, where the howl had come from. I looked at Jacob and he to was staring into the woods. It was strange, as if the howl meant something to both Jacob and Billy. We had reached the steps and as Charlie pushed Billy into the house, Jacob on my tail, there was a voice from behind Jacob.

"Hey Jake, you going to introduce us to the girl or not?" said a deep male voice. It sounded playful. I turned to see a boy, he looked around 17, maybe 18, and he looked exactly like Jacob. Tall, tanned and muscular. He didn't have a shirt on, and he wore a pair of denim shorts. I could see a tribal tattoo on his arm, the same as Jacobs.

"Bella, this is Quil Ateara, Quil, Bella" Jacob said without enthusiasm, and Quil stretched out his hand to shake. I took it with a smile and he pulled me into a huge bear hug.

"Bella! You must remember me! Then I suppose you haven't been here in what, 10 years?" he said, putting me down and raising his eyebrow.

"I remember you Quil! And yes it has been 10 years, Jacob has already reminded me!" I said with a small laugh. Soon a few others had joined Quil, all looking the same.

"Bella, Embry, Jared and Seth" Jacob said in introduction at the three newcomers. After a round of handshakes and bear hugs, we were called in for dinner. Billy had set the small table up in the living room and it was laden with food. The boys all sat around and dug into everything. Taking second and third helpings. Man, these boys could eat. But I wondered where it all went, as they all looked in good shape. After dinner, Charlie and Billy sat on the couch watching the game that was playing. Man, boys were so boring, and I was the only girl here. I sat on the porch step with Jacob next to me and the other boys sat surrounding. We spoke of their school and how much easier it was than my school, how they could skip classes and not be asked about it by teachers. Embry was talking with Jared in a low voice, too low for me to hear, but I was picking words out that I could hear. Upon hearing the words 'Cullen' and 'fresh trail', I looked at Jacob who was listening intently, but still trying to engage in conversation with me, trying not to seem rude for ignoring me.

"Jake we're going to find Sam, you coming?" Jared asked Jacob, but Jacob said he'd catch up in a little while. The boys nodded and ran into the tree line.

"You could have gone with them you know? Don't let me stop you" I said. He looked at me in mock offense.

"And leave the girl I haven't seen in a decade sat alone on my porch? No way!" he said with a giggle. It was easy to talk to Jacob and I didn't have to try and talk all the time. Sometimes there was silence, but it was never awkward and neither one of us felt the need to fill the empty space with talk. After an hour of sitting on the porch, Charlie came out with a brown grocery bag and a can of beer.

"Right Bels, you ready to hit the road?" he asked, as he shouted goodbye to Billy who was still in the house. I nodded and got up, heading for the car. I turned to Jacob.

"Can I come back soon? It's nice here" I said, trying not to hurt his feelings. And I did want to come back, I felt relaxed here and there wasn't any gossip about the new girl being in town, or not that I knew of at least.

"Course, you're welcome whenever you want to come back. See you soon Bella" Jacob said pulling me into a tight hug. I pulled up to the driveway and as soon as I was in the house, I felt strange. I felt like I didn't belong here, I felt uncomfortable to be in the house. Maybe it was just because I haven't been here for a while, but then I had been here a whole month and not felt like this. I said goodnight to Charlie and headed to my room. I quickly showered, got undressed and crawled into bed naked. It took me ages to fall to sleep, but soon I was having sweet dreams about La Push, tribal men and howling wolves.


	2. Chapter 2

**Now most of the stories I've read focus a lot on Edward and Bella's relationship, and I get why they have included it in their stories, but I don't want to reference a lot to Edward. I want the focus to be on Paul, as I feel like he doesn't get the attention he deserves and the credibility. But, please review and let me know if you have any ideas to make the story better!**

Chapter 2:

The first week of school had flown by and now it was saturday. I didn't have much homework, so I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen and living room whilst Charlie was fishing with Harry Clearwater. He insisted I came with him, feeling bad for leaving me alone but I'd rather rip my own eyes out than go fishing. I did know what I wanted to do in the afternoon. It had been bothering me all week and I couldn't stop thinking about how desperately I needed to go there. I grabbed the phone and rang the number on the notebook pinned to the wall.

"Hi Billy, it's Bella, I was wondering if Jacob was home?" I said.

"Oh hello Bella, yes he is, shall I pass the phone to him?" Billy replied, he seemed eager.

"Um, yes please" I simply said. I heard the phone go quiet for a moment and then a familiar voice appeared.

"Bella!" Jacob.

"Hi Jake! Listen, would it be okay if I came by today?" I said, with maybe a bit too much eagerness in my voice.

"Of course Bells, come by whenever you want, I do have to pop out for a couple of hours this afternoon, but I'm sure Quil and Embry will keep you entertained" he said with a laugh.

"Yes that's no problem, can I come over now? It'll take me about 20 minutes to get there" I said, already looking around for my shoes.

"No worries Bells, see you soon" Jacob said, and the line went dead. I spotted my shoes, throwing them on a bit too quickly, grabbed my car keys and practically ran to the car. After driving for 10 minutes, I passed the reservation borderline, and I felt calmer. Home. I pulled up in front of the little red house where Jake was already waiting for me on the front steps. He ran over and pulled me into his signature bear hug and span me around.

"Man Bella it's been ages since you were last here!" He said, setting me down, but his hands still rested on my waist.

"It's only been a week Jake, not 10 years this time" I said with a small laugh.

"So, what do you want to do today? Or for the first hour before I leave for a while" he said with a frown. It was clear he didn't want to leave me, but it must have been important business if he really had to leave me.

"Can we go down to First Beach? I haven't been there forever!" I said with excitement, and he grabbed me hand as we began the descent down to the beach. Once there, it was just as I had remembered it. Man, why did I ever leave this place? It was so peaceful, so calm, life felt easy here. We walked down to the water edge, and I bent down to test the water with my hand.

"Oh my god! It's freezing!" I practically screamed. Jacob laughed.

"Well, it's not exactly sunny here a lot, so there isn't a lot to heat the water. It's not Phoenix Bells" he laughed. He was right of course, it wasn't Phoenix, but for the first time since moving back to Washington, I didn't miss Phoenix. Not one bit. Jake pulled me towards a piece of driftwood on the beach and we sat down next to each other. There was a lot of heat radiating off of him, and I was very cold, so I scooted over so our arms were touching.

"Cold?" he said.

"A bit, I only have a Phoenix wardrobe you know" I said, with a small smile. Jake wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I didn't know if I was imagining it, but I thought I felt him place a small kiss on the top of my head.

"So where are you off too?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, I have to meet with some people in the town, it's nothing important, but if I don't go, Billy will be hurt" he said with a small frown.

"Why will Billy be hurt?" I asked tentatively, I wasn't sure if I stepped the mark with being nosy. He turned to me with a smile on his face, as if he had heard my thought.

"Oh he's just a stubborn old man, if I don't meet people he wants me to meet, he'll think it's because I'm ashamed of him or something. It's been like that ever since my mom died" he said, turning his head to look out to the ocean. Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have been nosy.

"I'm sorry for being nosy" I simply said. He didn't reply, just held me tighter. We sat like that for a while.

"Oh shit, Bells, I'm going to have to go now, I'll walk you back to Emily's place, she's Sam's fiance" he said, as he helped me up and quickly walked back. Once at Emily's, Jacob told me to go on in, and to not bother knocking, gave me a swift hug and took off into the tree line. I had to knock, I thought to myself, it was rude to barge into someone you don't know's house. I walked up to the front door and gave a tentative knock. There was a shuffling sound and then the silhouette of a native american woman was visible through the glass door.

"Ah, you must be Bella. Jacob told me you were stopping by, please, come in" she said, in a very friendly tone. I gave a smile and thanked her, and couldn't help my wondering eyes as they subtly travelled to Emily's face. It was marked by 3 huge pink scars. I dropped my eyes immediately, not wanting to be caught staring. I stepped into the small house and immediately into the cosy kitchen. It smells heavily of freshly cooked food and there was a tray of muffins in the centre of the kitchen table.

"Bella, don't look so nervous, I'm not going to bite" she said with a small laugh.

"So Emily, Jake told me you're Sam's fiance?" I asked politely, trying to make conversation. At the mention of Sam's name, her face lit up, and she immediately told me everything about Sam and it was clear to me straight away that Emily was so in love with Sam. We were sat at the kitchen table, nibbling on blueberry muffins when there was a loud bang, it was the front door flying open.

"Uh-oh, the boys are back, and they sound hungry" Emily said, rolling her eyes and laughing. I looked to see Quil, Embry, Sam and Seth come through the door and take a seat at the table, wearing only denim cut offs. They all greeted Bella brightly and immediately got involved in conversations about food and how hungry they were. I smiled as I watched the boys, all happy.

"Where's Paul? If he's going to be late, I can save him some of the food" Emily said to Sam, who was looking deeply into her eyes. God, it was beautiful to watch them. They were so in love.

"He'll be here any minute now, he just had to finish up picking up the trail" Sam whispered, but it was loud enough for me to hear. I didn't look over, in case they knew I had been listening. Soon enough, there was another loud bang of the front door and a tall, tanned and muscular native american boy walked through into the kitchen. His hair was exactly the same as the others, short and black, and he to had a tattoo on his arm. He was only wearing denim cut offs and I couldn't help my gaze as it drifted over his muscular chest. I looked up at his face as he looked me dead in the eye. Fuck, he caught me checking him out. I looked away in horror, but luckily no one else had noticed my awkward situation. They were still chatting and eating. The only person that was watching Paul was Sam, and Sam had a look in his eyes that made me scared. I turned back to look at Paul and his eyes were still fixed on me. It seemed almost threatening, and I immediately got up from the table, making his eyes snap off of me.

"Oh Bella, where are you going?" Emily asked kindly. Shit what should I say? Sorry Emily, I just feel a bit uncomfortable with the hot guy at the door staring at me. No, couldn't say that.

"I'm just going to get some air outside, I'm just getting a bit hot is all" I said, and walked towards the door. Paul was still stood in the same place, and I had to squeeze past him, my arm having to brush his as I squeezed out. I didn't turn around as I went to sit on the porch steps. That was so weird. Paul was staring at me and there was this crazy energy. It was so overwhelming that I had to escape it. I had never felt anything like that before. The front door banged open again and the boys came running out and straight into the tree line. Sam followed, with Emily grasping his hand as he gave her a swift kiss on the lips.

"Paul I need you to stay here to guard to rez, there shouldn't be any problems, but it's just in case. Plus you need to rest, you've been on patrol all night" Sam said to Paul, who had made him way onto the porch and stood directly behind where I was sat. Paul didn't reply, but he must have nodded his head as Sam nodded his back. And then Sam was gone. Emily invited me back into the house but I told her I'd be in in a few minutes. She let herself back into the house, leaving just me and Paul on the porch. I didn't say anything and continued to stare out into the tree line. I heard Paul move to sit next to me, but not close enough that we were touching. I kept my head straight, but I could see in my peripheral that he was looking at me. This was super awkward but at the same time it felt so right. I dared lift my head to look at him, and we were locked in each others gazes. He had brown eyes, and they glistened in the sunlight. He sat with his back resting against the side of the steps as he continued to stare at me.

"Any reason you're staring at me?" I asked nicely, I hoped. He gave me a small smile, and turned his head to look out into the tree line. I tried again.

"I'm going to go back in" I simply said, and got up from where I was sitting. Before I could stand fully upright, my hand was being pulled back, causing me to fall back down to the steps.

"Just sit here for a bit longer" he said, as his gaze poured into mine. I nodded and sat next to him, his hand was still holding mine. I looked at our hands entwined together, too polite to pull mine away and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. But at the same time I was thinking what the hell was he doing? He didn't know me, only of me, and from what I had heard, he didn't like me that much. Apparently I was just a spoiled child who took everything for granted. He was completely right of course, I was a spoiled child who took everything for granted, but now I had realised that I would never do that again. We sat together for what seemed like 10 minutes.

"Do you mind if I go in now? I'm just getting a bit cold" I said, not looking at his face, but keeping my eyes down at our hands. He gave a small laugh and let go of my hand. He stood up and walked into the house, holding the door open for me.

"Tea Bella?" Emily offered, as she was boiling the stove top kettle.

"Please Emily, that would be lovely" I said with a smile. I offered to help, not wanting to be alone with Paul again, but she just shooed me away and told me to make myself comfortable. I sat myself down on the cosy looking couch in the living room and crossed one leg over the other. Paul was sat at the kitchen table behind me but I could feel his eyes piercing the back of my head. Emily came over and handed me a mug of tea.

"Thank you Emily" I smiled, and she made herself scarce once again.

"Paul why don't you give Bella some company, I have to pop over to Billy's and Jacob isn't due back for another hour yet" Emily said politely. Oh great, now Emily was leaving too. This was going to be awkward and amazing at the same time. Paul didn't say anything but walked over to the couch opposite me and sat down. Emily was gone, and it was just Paul and myself left.

"Bella right?" Paul asked me, which immediately brought my attention back to him. I nodded, but didn't reply. He has heard so many people say my name, and I didn't really believe he didn't know it by now. He moved to sit on the same couch as me, but gave me space. He rested his arm on the back of the couch, and his hand was so close to my hair, I could feel the heat coming from it. I looked anywhere but at him, my hands fiddling with the mug I was holding. After an awkward 5 minutes, I placed the undrank mug of tea on the coffee table in front of me and turned so that my position was facing Paul. I let my head rest on the back of the couch and smiled at him. The energy that I had felt in the kitchen was not gone, if anything it was stronger, now that we were alone.

"It's strange" I whispered.

"Strange? I don't find it strange, well, I find it strange that it's you" he said as his hand gently caressed the top of my head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Apologies for the delay with this chapter, I've been stuck in hospital for a few days but I'm finally free! Please enjoy the chapter and remember to review : )**

It was just a measly Sunday, doing nothing as usual. My homework was done, and I could only clean the house for so many hours before my hands started burning from the cleaning products. By 2pm, I had to force myself to stop cleaning and decided to make my lunch. One turkey sandwich and an apple juice later, I was stuck with absolutely nothing to do. That was not ideal for me, given the most recent events. I didn't like to think about it much because it always made me panic. What did Paul mean when he said it was strange that it was me? The way he looked at me; as if nothing else mattered to him. I was trying not to think into it too much, how he held my hand, how he wanted my company and how he touched me. I wasn't going to pay much attention to it, I'd probably just embarrass myself anyway. I checked the time; 2:38pm.

"Shit!" I shouted, as I ran upstairs, hurdling into my room and running straight for the wardrobe. I had work at 3, how did I forget? I had already showered this morning, so I threw on my uniform; black jeans, striped ¾ length top and a maroon apron, and ran downstairs to put my white converse on. I had dressed and started the car all within 5 minutes. It was about a 15-minute drive to work, which I could get down to 7 or 8 minutes if I put my foot down on the gas. Soon enough, and with 3 minutes before I started, I hopped out of the car and sprinted through the doors to Newtons Olympic Outfitters, owned by my friend Mike Newton's parents.

"Bella! We were beginning to think you weren't coming in today" It was Mike's mom; Karen. She looked quite flustered and I began to feel guilty.

"I'm sorry Karen, I completely lost track of the time" I said, god what a shitty excuse. But it was true.

"It's okay Bella, you're here now. Can you please start in the warehouse? The hiking boots are going on sale, so they need id'ing and re-pricing" said Karen, placing a pricing gun and sheet of paper into my hand. I nodded, taking the pricing gun and sheet of paper with product codes on them. Entering the warehouse was always horrible. Despite the weather being warm today, it was freezing cold inside. I located the hiking boots in their boxes on the back shelf, pulled up an old crate to sit on and began the slow process of id'ing and re-pricing the boots. I wanted to take my time with this task, knowing that Mrs Newton wouldn't have a lot of jobs for me today; as usual.

2 hours later, I couldn't drag out the job any longer. I had successfully found and repriced all the hiking boots going on sale and organised them into their new prices. I had even managed not to let my mind wander. Even though I was forcing myself to focus on my job, a big part of me wanted to leave the store and drive straight to La Push. My chest felt tight whenever I thought of that place. I don't know what was going on with Paul, and I don't think I wanted to know. I had heard the gossip about him, about how he was a ladies man. According to Jacob, he was the whore of La Push, constantly sleeping with random women when he could. I didn't want to be involved with someone like that, because that wasn't me. Heck, I was still a virgin and I intended to keep it that way until the right guy came along. So, it confused the hell out of me why there was such a big pull for me in La Push. Did I miss Jacob? I had seen him yesterday, but we didn't spend an awful amount of time together. Maybe I just needed to spend some time with Jacob, get to know him again and who knows, maybe we could be best friends again. With that decided, I got up from the crate and walked out to find Mrs Newton. She was stood at the till area, fiddling with a roll of tape. It didn't look very busy today, great.

"All of the hiking boots have been checked and re-priced Karen. What's next?" I asked, placing the pricing gun underneath the till, and looking hopefully at Mrs Newton. She gave me a sad smile and quickly glanced around the store before turning back to me.

"You know Bella, it's not particularly busy today, why don't you take off early huh?" she said. Oh great, now what was I supposed to do? No, I had to try and stay, I had to keep myself busy.

"Oh, um, I thought I saw some rope in aisle 3 that needs re-stocking, I could have a look at that?" I said hopefully turning to her. I was begging at her in my head ' _PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO_ '.

"It's fine honestly Bella, my husband is here as well so he can pick up any bits like that. You take off now, and wait for me to call you about your next shift. Payroll is quite tight at the moment" she said looking at her hands. I just nodded, picked up my car keys from the side of the till, and headed for the car. I sat in the car thinking. It was only 5. Maybe I could go to La Push? Only for a few hours at least. Charlie didn't finish work until 8, so I had plenty of time for a quick visit. I sat contemplating this idea for at least 10 minutes, thinking of the good and the bad things that could happen if I drove there.

"Ah, fuck it" I said finally, starting the engine and pulling onto the main road in the direction of La Push. The highway was quite busy, but then I remembered people usually finished work around this time. I hoped someone was home at Jacob's. I should have called before, just to check. Once I had crossed the border into the reservation, I relaxed. Home. Pulling up in front of Jacob's house, I turned the engine off and hopped out, trying not to run towards the front door. I knocked three times, but there was no answer. Damn it, I knew I should have called beforehand. I tried the back door; nothing. I heard a howl from the woods and walked around so I could see the treeline. 3 people walked out from the treeline, wearing denim cut offs. From where I was standing, it looked like Sam, Jared and Paul. I walked towards them, wanting to know where Jacob was. When I was close enough, I dared not look at Paul.

"Bella, if you're looking for Jacob, he's not here" Sam said. He sounded mean. I didn't say anything back. It was upsetting that Jake wasn't here, again. It was like he was avoiding me. But then, how could he avoid me if he didn't know I was coming in the first place? I nodded and began walking towards my car. They were whispering to each other and I heard Paul say something to Sam.

"The other imprints are on the beach, don't you think it would be good for Bella to interact with them, you know, considering" he whispered to Sam. That's when Jared piped up.

"Bella, the girls are down on First Beach if you wanted company" Jared shouted after me. I thought about it, maybe it would be good for me to spend time with other girls. I turned around and began walking back to them, my heart suddenly started racing.

"What's an imprint?" I asked Sam. Sam looked at me with wide eyes and panic drew on his face. He looked at Paul who had a smile on his face as he looked at me. Jared turned away almost in awkwardness. Paul answered,

"Bella, go to the beach, we'll catch up in a little bit" he said kindly, with a smile. God he was so sexy when he smiled like that. His teeth were a brilliant white and it made my legs feel like jelly. I smiled back and nodded. I didn't bother locking the car, I wouldn't be very long on the beach anyway. I could feel Paul's eyes piercing the back of my skull again, and I briefly turned around and met his gaze. Sam and Jared had already begun walking towards the woods, but Paul had not moved at all as he watched me. As I look at Paul, there was a huge urge to run into his arms. I remembered his warm fingers brushing through my hair, it made me shiver. Sam had turned to find Paul wasn't by his side.

"Paul, let's go! You'll see her in half an hour" Sam called out, and Paul immediately took his eyes off me and followed Sam and Jared. That's when the ache began in my chest. Watching Paul walk away hurt. Like really hurt. Stop it Bella! There is nothing between you two! I knew Paul had always hated me, but a part of me felt that wasn't true anymore.

I got down to the beach to find a group of chatting girls sitting around a bonfire. The sun was still shining, but it would be dark soon, and cold. I tentatively walked over to the girls and was so glad when I saw Emily get up and approach me.

"Bella! I'm so glad you decided to join us. Let me introduce the girls" she said, pulling me into a gentle hug and tugging my hand towards the circle. All these girls looked beautiful; all native American beauty. There was one girl that had blonde hair and she sat next to a girl whose name was Kim. I was pulled to sit next to Kim and the blonde girl, whose name was Claire. They were all so lovely to me, offering me food and drink, letting me join in with conversation. I felt comfortable with these girls; like I belonged or something. The sun was starting to set by the time the boys arrived. Jared immediately ran to Kim and swooped her up in his arms as she giggled. I saw Quil was here and he sat next to Claire and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. Sam and Emily were in each other's arms and were kissing. Paul stood off to the side of the drift wood log I was sat on, looking at me with curious eyes. I had never felt more uncomfortable and happy. I so wished I could be someone's girl. I wished someone would pick me up in their arms and kiss me like nothing else mattered to them. I wished I was as loved as these girls were loved. The thought made me feel sad. My chest began to tighten as I watched the happy couples. I looked up at Paul, with wanting eyes. He walked around the log and sat behind me, pulling me into his arms. His arms were tight around me and I let out a breath. I felt Paul kiss the back of my head. It was strange. I felt safe in Paul's arms. I let my head fall back against his chest as he nuzzled his nose into my hair. Sam and Emily were watching us from across the bonfire and Emily had the biggest grin on her face. Sam nodded at Paul and I felt Paul nod against my head.

The sun was fully set, and the temperature had dropped drastically. But I hadn't noticed it against Paul's body heat. A few of the couples began to leave, saying farewells around the bonfire. Soon it was just Sam and Emily and Paul and me. It was quiet, except for the roaring sound of the flames and the crashing of the waves and thought I'd take the opportunity to ask Sam again.

"Sam" I said quietly, knowing he would hear me. He did, and his head cocked up from Emily's shoulder.

"What's an imprint?" I asked again. Emily looked at Sam, a smile forming on her pretty face. Sam smiled this time.

"Why don't you ask Paul? We're heading off now, give you two some privacy" he said, scooping Emily up in his arms bridal style, making her laugh. They were gone, and it was just me and Paul. Paul's arms tightened around me again, before he stood up and walked to face me. He held out his hand.

"Let's go for a walk" he said, as I put my hand into his and he pulled me up into his arms. His arms were around me, and my head leaned into his shoulder. I rested my hands on his chest, flexing my fingers. He laughed.

"Are you feeling me up?" he laughed. I moved my arms, so they were round his neck, and looked into his face. I shook my head, not very convincing, I thought.

He held me like that for a while, my face buried in his neck, smelling his scent. He had a musky pine smell, and it was not forgiving on me. I lifted my head to look at him.

"So, are you going to tell me what an imprint is?" I asked. He smiled but didn't answer me. He pressed his hot lips to my forehead.

"It's too soon for you to know" he said, and he pulled me away from him, took my hand in his and we walked along the beach. Being away from Paul's heat was noticeable now and I felt the chill in the air, making me shiver.

"Cold?" he asked, looking a little concerned. I nodded, and we started walking up the beach back towards the town, with his arm wrapped around me, trying to warm me up.

"Why are you so warm all the time?" I asked, genuinely curious. Even in the cold without a shirt on, he must have been at least 108 degrees. I wasn't complaining out here though. He laughed.

"I'm just hot" he said with a laugh. We had reached a white wooden house, surrounded by little village stores, and he let me go to open the front door.

"I hope you don't mind, this is my house" he said as he held the door open for me. Shit, this was his house. Why did he bring me here? Oh god, how many girls had he brought here already? I wasn't about to be another notch in his bedpost. I hesitated to go in, and he sensed I was nervous. He took my hands and brought my face up to his, so we were looking in each other's eyes.

"Bella, it's just my house. I thought you were cold?" he asked, sensing my hesitation.

"I suppose I just assumed you all lived at Jacob's" I said, stupidly. He barked a loud laugh.

"That's probably the funniest thing I've ever heard you say" he said whilst still laughing. He took my hand and motioned for me to come in.

"Listen, nothing is going to happen okay? Just come and have a talk with me" he said gently, bringing his hand to my face and stroking my cheek with my thumb. I smiled at his touch and walked into the house. Paul reached to turn the light on and I was blown away by how beautiful his house was. His kitchen was rustic and wooden and looked clean, his living room looked cosy, with a huge fireplace stacked with wood ready to be burned and a soft couch with a throw draped over the top. He had a white fluffy rug on the floor next to the fireplace.

"So, you like it?" he asked.

"I wasn't expecting this, let's just say that" I said with a laugh as I headed to the kitchen. The kitchen table was huge, and it had eccentric carvings of wolves in the sides. I brushed my fingers along the carvings.

"I carved those myself" Paul said.

"You did? It looks amazing Paul" I must have sounded excited because he moved to face me. His hands rested on my waist as he looked into my face to see my reaction. He smiled when he saw me smile.

"You're probably so confused at my sudden need to be in your company" he said. I brought my arms up to rest of his chest.

"It is confusing, I always thought you hated me and I thought you would have had a girlfriend or something" I said. He laughed.

"I don't really do the whole girlfriend thing, but I've had a change of heart" he said. I thought about his reply. He didn't do the girlfriend thing, meaning he only fucked the girls he brought home. But what did he mean when he said he had a change of heart? He wants a girlfriend now, it was obvious. But it was weird why he was clinging to me all the time. No, possibly not. Not me.

"So, you want a girlfriend now?" I asked.

"I don't like using that word" he said, and he kissed the top of my head. I brought my face up to face his, his eyes burning into mine. His hands were searching for any part of my exposed skin on my waist. Without thinking, I leaned towards his face, and pressed my lips against his.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi everyone! A super HUGE apology to you all! The past year has been crazy for me – I had a baby! She was premature so was in hospital for 70 days, so this story was on the back of my mind through all of it. But after reading all of your reviews, I've decided to continue the story. I will take all of your points into mind and without further ado, here is UNCHANGEABLE continued…

Previously…

 _"You're probably so confused at my sudden need to be in your company" he said. I brought my arms up to rest of his chest._

 _"It is confusing, I always thought you hated me, and I thought you would have had a girlfriend or something" I said. He laughed._

 _"I don't really do the whole girlfriend thing, but I've had a change of heart" he said. I thought about his reply. He didn't do the girlfriend thing, meaning he only fucked the girls he brought home. But what did he mean when he said he had a change of heart? He wants a girlfriend now, it was obvious. But it was weird why he was clinging to me all the time. No, possibly not. Not me._

 _"So, you want a girlfriend now?" I asked._

 _"I don't like using that word" he said, and he kissed the top of my head. I brought my face up to face his, his eyes burning into mine. His hands were searching for any part of my exposed skin on my waist. Without thinking, I leaned towards his face, and pressed my lips against his…_

As soon as our lips connected, it was like a starting gun had gone off. His hands, resting on my waist, travelled to hold the sides of my face, keeping my lips to his. My hands gripped the top of his shoulders as his tongue licked my lower lip, begging for entrance and without reluctance, I opened my mouth, sucking his tongue into my mouth. Our tongues battled for dominance as his hand travelled down to rest on my ass. He gave a gentle squeeze before lifting me up, so I could wrap my legs around his waist. He carried me into the kitchen, our lips never breaking contact. His breathing was becoming heavier as his mouth started trailing kisses along my jaw before moving down to my neck. I let out a small moan as he gently sucked on my neck, before I felt myself being sat on a hard surface in the kitchen. I let my head fall back in ecstasy as his assault on my neck started moving south towards my chest.

"Paul" I let out a breathy moan and he suddenly stopped. He froze, his hands still on my ass, and he lifted his head up ever so slowly to look at me.

"Shit Bella. I shouldn't have done that." He said and took a step back from me. I was still sat on the kitchen counter, lips swollen and hair a mess from the kiss. And then it all clicked for me; he didn't want me to be his girlfriend, I jumped to conclusions as usual! But then why would he have kissed me in the first place? Wait, wasn't I the one who kissed him first? As well as his reputation, he didn't seem the person to turn down a heated kiss from any girl that offered it up. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed. I jumped down from the counter.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that either" I said in a small voice and went to walk around him towards the front door. Before I could even get past him, his arm came out, grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to face him, before letting go again.

"No Bella, you don't understand. I shouldn't have done that before telling you" he paused for an agitated breath and a shake of his head, before his eyes bored into mine.

"Fuck! I mean you deserve to have a choice in this! This is already fucked up enough and now look what it's making me do!" He walked to the wall to the side and punched it, leaving a dent. His breathing became heavier and he seemed to be shaking. I slowly walked towards him, resting my hand on his shoulder. The shaking immediately stopped.

"Paul, what's going on? There is something you obviously aren't telling me" My voice was shaky with emotion. My mind recalled to an earlier conversation between Sam, Jared and Paul

 _"The other imprints are on the beach, don't you think it would be good for Bella to interact with them, you know, considering" he whispered to Sam._

Imprint. I had heard that word so much since that day I had met Paul. Paul turned to meet my gaze.

"Bella… there is so much I need to tell you, but I want you to keep an open mind okay? Some of the things I'm going to tell you, it's going to sound like a bunch of garbage, but I really need you to listen to it, can you do that?" He reached out to smooth my cheek with his thumb and then traced my bottom lip with it.

"Please, tell me, and I promise I'll listen okay?" I sighed. Paul took my hand and dragged me towards the living room, where he gently pushed me onto the couch. He took a seat next to me and began.

"Okay, so have you ever heard the stories of La Push and the Quileute's?" I nodded, I remember a recent conversation with Jacob, but it was only brief.

"So the stories tell us that our tribe was descended from wolves, and they were that way to bring protection to the tribe…"

"…from the cold ones?" I asked, remembering what Jacob had told me.

"Exactly, so in the stories, our ancestors transformed into wolves to fight off cold ones, or vampires, and they shared their bodies with this ancient spirit wolf. Now being able to transform into this wolf also brought along another 'gift' as the elders call it, which is imprinting" He paused to take a breath and took my hands in his before continuing.

"Imprinting is when the man looks at a woman, who he may have never even met before, and suddenly she becomes his whole world. Gravity isn't the only thing holding them to this world, it's her. He would do anything and be anything for her. Whatever made her happy" he said, before turning his head so he was looking at the floor. I was trying to understand what he was saying. Imprinting seemed intense. Whilst I was lost in thought, Paul took my hand and pulled me towards his back door and settled me onto the porch steps. He walked a few meters in front of me, before turning back.

"I don't understand Paul, what has this got to do with anything?" I asked. They were just stories, weren't they? He stared at me, trying to gauge my reaction I think. Then he sighed loudly.

"I think the easiest way to make you believe me is to show you" he said. Then his body started shaking uncontrollably, teeth gritted almost painfully as his body began to convulse then he jumped and in his place was a huge grey wolf. I jumped up from the step and took a step back. Holy shit! Paul just turned into a giant fricking wolf! While my body was telling me to fear the creature in front of me, I didn't feel afraid. For some reason, I felt whole. The wolf, well, Paul, led down in front of me and whined, showing me not to be scared of him. I walked towards him and stroked his muzzle gently.

"Holy shit" I whispered loudly to myself, not quite believing what I was seeing. I didn't know how to feel about this. I mean, Paul just turned in a wolf, a huge ass wolf too. So, what, fairy tales are real after all?

"Did you think I would run away screaming?" I asked the wolf with a small laugh. The wolf whined again and lifted it's muzzle into my hand. How very lupine, I thought. Imprinting. Is this the reason why I felt so drawn to La Push? Kissing Paul, well I felt so obliged to do so. I pulled my hand back and stepped away from the wolf Paul. As I started for the steps, he whined, as if he thought I was leaving him for good. I turned back around with a sly smile playing on my face.

"Listen wolf boy, turn back into a human and we can talk about this inside" I said, but continued to look at the wolf. The wolf shimmered for a few seconds and then Paul, erm, a very naked Paul was stood in its place. I averted my eyes quickly, the blush already creeping up onto my cheeks.

"Jesus Paul" I whispered, more to myself than anything. But not before I caught a glimpse of his manhood. I've never seen one up close before, so I had nothing to compare it too, but even so, I knew he wasn't lacking in that department. He had a cheeky smirk on his face.

"Well you wanted me back to a human sooo…" he said cheekily with a shrug. He started towards me, climbing the steps two at a time. I was left on the steps as he called from the kitchen.

"Don't worry, I won't bite you… yet" he laughed out loud. I reached the kitchen to see Paul had his denim cut offs back on, if only to spare my blush. He was busy making coffee so I sat at the island, twiddling my thumbs.

"So, you turn into a wolf and you've imprinted" I said, trying to make sense of it. He didn't turn to look at me, but he had paused to listen, so I continued.

"Okay, so who have you imprinted on?" I asked matter of factly. I had an inkling, but he needed to confirm it for me.

"Have you not guessed already? I imprinted on you" he said, turning around this time, placing a mug of coffee in front of me. I wrapped my hands around it, trying to warm my hands that had surprisingly turned cold. Imprinted on me? What did that mean? He sat down next to me but didn't touch me again.

"Look, it's a lot to get your head around. But to put it simply, you are my imprint. I can be anything you choose me to be; your lover, brother or just your friend. But I can never hurt you, never cheat on you and I live only to make you happy. But whatever you choose, it's your choice" he said, putting emphasis on the word 'choice'. I nodded and told him I would need time to get my head around all of this. His face looked scared and pained.

"Bella, if I'm away from you for any amount of time, it's so painful for me, and you'll notice the pull if you haven't already. I understand you need time, I've sort of thrown you into the deep end, haven't I?" he asked, and I nodded. I took a sip of my coffee and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Paul was just watching me for any sort of rejection. I knew I wouldn't reject him or the imprint, not after he told me how painful it would be for both of us, but also because I didn't want to reject him. Even though I have only known Paul for a day or two, I felt like we have known each other our whole lives. He was the missing piece in my heart that I didn't know I needed until now. Did I want another friend? I already have friends in Jake and his friends, but maybe I needed a brother? No, I don't think I want a brother; it just didn't seem right to class Paul as my brother, when I knew he was more to me than that. So, could Paul be my lover? I would be lying to myself if I said he wasn't attractive. Paul was very attractive, and I suddenly understood why so many women fawned after him. Strangely, that thought made me angry. Even still, if I decided right now I needed Paul more than a brother or a friend, I still needed time to really think about it.

"I don't need another friend, nor do I want a brother Paul, but I really do need time to think about this" I said with a sigh. He nodded, took my mug and placed it in the sink.

"I'll walk you back to your car" he said, a little dejectedly. We made our way along the beach, not holding hands and not really talking.

"What are you thinking Paul?" I asked him, desperate to break the tension. He stopped walking and turned to face me, still not meeting my eyes.

"Paul please, is it me? Have I done something to upset you?" I said, with a little choke at the end. Paul pulled me into his arms, resting his chin on the top of my head. I held the tears back and cuddled into his warm chest. He smelled like heaven to me, just his scent alone is enough to calm me down. I let out a breath against his chest, I felt safe in his arms. He pulled back to look at my face, looking from my eyes to my lips. He leaned down ever so slowly and brushed his lips against mine. As I kissed him back, something in me changed. It was like a fire had ignited and Paul was fuelling it. One of my hands moved to hold his cheek whilst the other held onto the back of his hair, giving it a gentle tug. Paul breathed out harshly, and kissed me more furiously, his hands winding into my hair to keep me in place. He bit my bottom lip and sucked it into his mouth before I slipped my tongue into his. Our breathing became heavier as the kiss became faster and heated. One of Paul's hands had dropped to hold my ass and gave it a squeeze as I let out a small moan. It was so hard to remember anything around Paul; especially when we were doing this.

"Bella" Paul moaned, as his hand found my breast and gave it a gentle squeeze. I moaned louder this time, relishing in the feeling. His thumb stroked my nipple through my shirt. I whimpered at the contact. His mouth moved away from mine, and I was ready to protest when instead he caressed my jaw with his lips, leaving small nips of his teeth as he moved down onto my neck. He left open mouthed wet kisses on my neck, right underneath my jaw, and my legs suddenly felt like jelly. I hung onto his neck as I moaned at the sensations he was giving me. I had completely forgotten that we were in the middle of the beach and it was dark out. Then I remembered I was going home to think about it, about us. I reluctantly pulled away and leaned my forehead against his. Our breaths were heavy.

"Mmmm as nice as that was, I still need time to think" I said, opening my eyes. He opened his and we were just lost in each other's eyes for a moment, before I pulled us back to reality. He let go of me but took my hand as we started walking again. I couldn't see anything in the dark.

"Paul are you sure we're going the right way? I can't see a thing" I asked, trying to focus my eyes but all I could see was darkness and all I could hear were the waves crashing, oh, and my heart beating so fast it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest.

"Benefit of being a wolf, enhanced vision, enhanced hearing. I can see in the dark, don't you worry" he chuckled and pulled me tighter to his body. Soon we had reached my car, and I suddenly felt sad to go. I opened the door and switched the in car light on, so I could at least see a little bit. I turned back to Paul, my chest feeling tight.

"Please don't think for too long Bella, I don't know if I will be able to handle being away from you for so long" he pleaded. I took his hand and kissed the top.

"Just give me a few days, can you handle that?" I asked in a quiet voice, knowing he could hear me. He nodded solemnly and released my hand. As I was about to get into the car, I had an idea.

"Would you like my cell number?" I asked, taking my phone from the bag on my car seat. I handed him my phone and watched him as he tapped in his number, then send himself a text, so we now had each other's numbers. He handed my phone back.

"Can I call you?" he asked.

"Of course, you can, whenever you miss me" I said. Not seeing Paul for a few days would make it easier knowing we could talk on the phone. I gave Paul a swift kiss on the lips before I hopped into my car and started the engine. As I was about to put the car in drive, my phone started vibrating on the seat next to me with an unknown number. I answered the call.

"Hello?" I asked.

"I miss you" It was Paul. I looked out of the window to see Paul standing stock still, phone to his ear. His face was pained. I held in the sob that threatened to escape my throat.

"I miss you too, but this time apart will do us both good. We both need to think. I'll see you in a few days, promise" I said all while looking at him as I hung up the phone. I gave him one last wave, then pulled out of Jake's driveway and onto the main road. As soon as I saw the sign 'You are now leaving La Push' I didn't stop the sobs that racked my body.

 **A/N: So Bella has finally learned what the La Push boys really are. But how does she really feel about the imprinting? She obviously has feelings for Paul but needs time to herself to think about everything. I know I would after such a revelation!**

 **Next chapter will be uploaded soon as I'm currently writing chapters for 2 different stories, but I won't leave you guys again! PROMISE!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hi everyone, and hope you are enjoying the story so far. Apologies if I take a while uploading between chapters, it's hard to find time to write with a 6-month-old constantly invading my space. So, I've thought about this chapter hard, and I thought it was necessary as I believe Bella's character would have taken the time out to think about Paul before jumping straight into a relationship with someone she hardly knows. And I know I've got them kissing and that but that's just teenagers for you isn't it? (Or at least me as a teenager XD) Also, in my story, Bella has never met any of the Cullen's (I do like them, but I think not every twilight fanfic needs to focus on the vampires, the werewolves rule!), so Paul would be her first boyfriend, which is why she's so hesitant and concerned.

Please enjoy this chapter, and review ?

Chapter 5:

I had been home for a total of 12 hours and so far, had spoken to Paul on the phone 5 times. It's like he can't get enough of my voice. I must admit it was really nice to hear is voice too, but I still hadn't had time to think about this. I was only 17, I had finishing school and going to college to think about. Not only that, of course I had heard about his reputation. I wasn't exactly comfortable with it. What if we were out in public one day and one of his former conquests asked for another round? I would be mortified. Charlie and Renee didn't raise me to judge people, yet I thought it was sad that he only saw women for sex and not love, which made me need to think about considering becoming close to Paul. He needed to understand that I was not going to be another one of his go to girls for a quick lay. That was not me and never will be. Sure, I got a bit carried away when kissing him, but maybe that was something to do with the imprint connection he had mentioned? I certainly felt a strange electrical current flowing between us whenever we touched. Maybe I needed to talk to someone that would listen to my concerns? Not only that, what would Charlie say? I had never had a boyfriend before and Charlie was the Chief of Police here in Forks. What if this imprint connection made me do things I couldn't control? What if it made me into someone I'm not? Paul said that the imprint works so he has to do anything or be anything that makes me happy. But I've felt first hand how powerful the connection is, and it could easily mould me into someone that suits his needs, without me even realising it, making myself think this is making me happy! No, I needed to talk to someone that understands where I'm coming from, someone that will listen and give me sound advice. But who do I ask? I now know that Jacob can transform into a wolf, but I'm not sure who else. I would like to talk to a girl who has first hand experience being an imprint, but I didn't even know where to start. With that thought, I found Jacob's number in my cell and listened to the ring.

"Hey you've reached Jake, sorry I can't come to the phone right now but leave your message and I'll get back to you" Beeep. Great, so that was out of the equation then. I couldn't exactly drive back to the reservation, Paul would easily smell me and come looking for me. And what would I say to him if I did that? 'Sorry Paul, I'm not here to see you, I need to talk to someone about this imprint because I feel like you only want me for sex' That was definitely not happening. Then it clicked; Billy. Hell was I mentioning any of this to Billy, but he might be able to get Jake to ring me.

"Hello, Billy speaking" his voice drowned through the phone. Shit, maybe this wasn't a good idea. I mean, Jacob was a wolf, he was probably busy, maybe he's even got his own girlfriend!

"Hi Billy, it's Bella"

"Ahh Bella, I was wondering when I would hear from you again. Jake has been talking about you non stop since you got back. So, when are you coming to pay this old man a visit?" he chuckled. I always saw Billy as a second dad, after Charlie of course. Back before Billy was in his wheelchair, he used to pick me up from the ground when I grazed my knee and put a plaster on it for me. Whenever Charlie had to work, I would stay at Jake's house for the day playing in the garden.

"I'll be round soon Billy don't worry" I laughed, and I made a mental promise to do just that.

"Good Bella, so I'm guessing you're looking to talk to Jake?" he asked.

"Yeah I was, but if he's busy could you maybe get him to give me a call later?"

"No need Bella, he's just walked through the door. Jake, Bella's on the line" I heard Billy shout out, and then I heard a fumbling before Jake's voice came on.

"Hey Bells, sorry I missed you the other day, Sam mentioned you stopped by" Shit, did Sam tell him anything else?

"Oh that's okay, I don't expect you to be free all the time, hey, I was wondering if we could meet up?" I asked tentatively.

"Sure that's cool, you gonna come down to the reservation?" he asked, sounding hopeful that I would. And I was not.

"Um, would it be okay if we met up in the diner in Forks actually?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound too suspicious. There was a pause on the line for a few seconds.

"Sure Bella that sounds good. Shall I pick you up at say 2?"

"Yeah that's good with me, I'll see you then, Bye" After Jacob excitedly said 'I can't wait' and 'I'll definitely be there', I hung up the phone. Gheez, I hope Jake doesn't think I just asked him out.

It was 2 and Jacob was just pulling up outside. I locked the door behind me and got into his car, or The Rabbit, as he called it. As soon as I had the door shut, he turned to face me.

"Hey Bells" he said with his usually cheery grin. Ah, the Jacob Black grin. It would make any girl melt into a puddle, but alas, that girl was not me. It was obvious Jacob had feelings for me more than friendly, but I have only ever saw him as a brother, practically growing up with him.

"Hey Jake, thanks for coming to pick me up, I need to talk to you about something" I said, but I couldn't help notice the grin that spread across his face.

"No problem Bells, why don't we get to the diner and then we can talk" he said. Then he put the car into drive and drove onto the main road. As he was driving, I couldn't help but glance over at him. Jacob had certainly grown. I would even go so far as to say he was very attractive. His jet-black hair not too short, but it hung in a way that looked sexy. His frame was bulked like a body builder. He certainly looked like a man now. Once we were seated in a small booth at the back of the diner, the waitress came over to take our orders, and she wasn't being subtle at admiring Jake.

"What can I get you?" she said, mainly looking at Jacob. Jacob ordered us sodas and garden burgers, well he ordered 2 and a side of large fries. The waitress wrote our order down.

"If you need anything else, let me know" she said to Jacob with a wink. Jacob looked a little embarrassed. The waitress was young and attractive, but Jacob hardly paid any attention to her.

"So Bells, what was it you wanted to talk about?" So, how should I word this?

"I know about the wolves Jacob, Paul told me everything" I said, a little to quickly. Jacob sat stock still, looking a little angry.

"Why would he do that? He had no right!" he seethed. Before he could get angrier, I cut in.

"Jacob, I know you turn into a giant fricking wolf, and I know about imprinting. Although I'm not sure how I feel about it, and this is why I wanted to talk to you today, just to get someone else's perspective" I said, as I watched his shaking figure stop when he heard the little choke at the end of my sentence. He took my hand across the table.

"Bella, what can I say? Yeah, I turn into a wolf to protect the tribe from the cold ones. The legends I told you are true. I still don't understand why Paul of all people told you, he broke the tribal law! Our existence is supposed to be kept a secret from tribe outsiders, and he fucking knows that! What I also don't get is why he talked to you about imprinting, it's not like he would have… " Jacob trailed off with a sceptical look at me. I kept my mouth shut, not daring to say a word. I think he just figured it out.

"Bella, please tell me he didn't" Jacob said sadly. I dropped my eyes to my hands on the table. He had dropped my hand pretty quickly when he figured it out. I didn't know what to say. I never intended to upset Jacob, and I thought I had always made it pretty clear to him, even as we were growing up, that he was no more to me than a brother. That didn't stop me feeling guilty when I saw the look in his eyes. Betrayal.

"Bella, did Paul imprint on you?"

"Yes he did Jacob, he explained everything to me after he told me about the legends and imprinting and then he showed me his wolf" I rushed the words from my mouth as Jacob got more exasperated. He started to get up from his seat before I grabbed his hand.

"Jacob please! I wanted to talk to you about this! I've only heard Pauls side of this!" I pleaded, tears forming in my eyes, but not yet escaping.

"Talk to me Bella? How about torture me with it? It's been obvious I like you more than a friend, even when we were growing up, but you just sat there and told me that Paul imprinted on you, and you expect me not to be mad about it?" he said, his voice raising slightly. Hang on, this wasn't my fault. I didn't force Paul to imprint on me. I decided to tell Jake, he was being completely unfair.

"Jacob Black! Do you think I forced Paul to imprint on me? I was just minding my own business at Emily's when he walked through the door. How was I supposed to know he would be there? It's so unfair of you to put all of this anger onto me!" I said, the tears finally escaping. We were only talking in loud whispers, but I couldn't do this anymore. Jacob clearly wasn't going to help me. I took my hand from his harshly and stormed out of the diner, leaving Jacob sat with his mouth hung open.

I had to walk home, since Jacob had driven me to the diner, luckily it was a short walk back home. As soon as I got in, I collapsed onto my bed in tears. I couldn't believe Jacob would treat me like some… like some hussy! I should have known not to talk to Jacob about this. Now I was back to square one. I looked at my phone and it had 2 missed calls from Paul. I dialled back and waited for him to answer.

"Hey Bella, sorry I didn't mean to ring so much but I just wanted to hear your voice" he said and I could sense the smile in his voice. A sob escaped my throat before I could stop it.

"Bella? What's wrong? Tell me please Bella" he pleaded down the phone. I couldn't speak, the sobs wracked my whole body and I cried loudly. I finally managed to form words.

"Paul, I needed someone to talk to about this. I thought Jacob would have listened, I thought he would have been there for me!" I cried to Paul. I could hear Paul's breathing become heavier with anger.

"Bella, what did that little shit do? What did he say? What did you tell him exactly?" he questioned calmly.

"I just needed a friend to discuss this with, but he was so unfair Paul! He just completely blamed me for everything! I said that I know you guys are wolves and I mentioned imprinting to him, and he said why would you have talked to me about imprinting, and then it clicked for him, and he just completely went nuts on me!" I cried loudly, not quit believing Jake would do that to me. Paul had listened to my tirade, that's when I heard loud growling.

"That motherfucker! I will fucking end him! He had no right to go off on you like that! Bella, baby, do you want me to come get you? I can feel your hurt Bella"

"No Paul, please, I still need time to get my head around all of this. I'll be okay in a minute, it was just a bit of a shock that's all" I said letting out a huge breath and wiping my tears. Paul sighed loudly.

"Bella it's so painful being away from you, I don't know how much more I can take" he pleaded.

"Paul, I'll be okay and you'll be okay. You've survived all these years without me before, and I'm sure you can find a nice girl to keep you company in the meantime" Shit, that slipped out. I didn't mean to say that at all. I'm just so angry with Jacob, and I'm taking it out on Paul! What kind of person was I?

"Bella, I mean, did you really just say that to me?" he said, and I could hear the hurt in his voice, which made me feel worse.

"Paul, no, I didn't mean to say that, it just slipped out. Please Paul I wasn't thinking" I said, crying again. Goddamn it. Me and my big mouth, of all things to say!

"Bella is that what you think? That I only want you because I want to have sex with you? Those girls are in my past, I want a future with you Bella! Can't you see that? And it's not just because of the imprint… or.. maybe it is, I don't know! But you haven't even given us a chance to get to know each other!" he half shouted down the phone.

"We could be so good together Bella! Just please give us a chance! We'll take a walk somewhere so we can talk about this, you could have come to me and spoke to me about this you know?" he said.

"I just needed another point of view about all of this! Like Jake said, I'm an outsider!" I shouted. I knew Paul wasn't putting all of this onto me but I did feel an incredible amount of pressure from him.

"Okay, fine, I can ask Sam to see if you can speak to Emily about this. She's Sam's imprint remember? Plus she can give you a girls point of view on it, would that be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I guess I could talk to Emily, when do you think she'll be able to meet me?"

"Tomorrow probably, but please Bella, I really need to see you" he sounded desperate. I knew if I went to see Paul things would end up like last time and my prediction would come true. As hard as it was for me not to see him, because of the pull, I stuck to my guns.

"Okay look, tomorrow after I've spoken to Emily, I'll call you and we can talk, does that sound okay with you?" That was the best I could do and I wasn't going to bargain. He sighed loudly again.

"Okay, I'll arrange it and text you later. Bye Bella" Then he hung up. Huh, I'd never been hung up on before. Was Paul mad that I didn't want to see him? No he didn't sound mad. Maybe he was hurt by it? I wasn't rejecting him, but how was he supposed to know that? I never told him! Ugh! I went to the kitchen and started making Charlie food for dinner; spaghetti Bolognese. It was quick and easy and it kept me busy for a while. Soon, Charlie was coming through the door.

"Hey kiddo, how was your day?" he asked brightly, hanging up his gun belt.

"Um, yeah it was okay I guess. Um, I made spaghetti Bolognese for dinner, and it's just about ready" I said, trying to get away from the topic of my day. We sat around the table eating our food quietly. Charlie and I were never really people to talk about our feelings to each other. It wasn't by choice, I think spending most of my childhood with my mom didn't help our relationship, but I knew he would always love and support me. He didn't need to tell me all the time. After dinner, he washed and dried the dishes whilst I wiped the table clean.

"I'm going to get an early night dad" I said, making my way towards the stairs.

"Okay, night kiddo!" he shouted, but I was already in my room.

After a quick shower, I threw on my old sweats and climbed into bed, hoping for a dreamless sleep were I wouldn't be reminded about today's events.

 **A/N: So Paul seems to be putting a little bit of pressure on Bella to make up her mind about the imprint. I understand Bella's need for time, but Jacob was way out of line! Maybe Bella's talk with Emily will help her come to a decision, but like they say, only time will tell! I'm going to be doing a few point of view chapters from Paul, Sam, Emily and Jacob throughout the story, and who knows, maybe Charlie will finally show his true feelings about Bella's behaviour in upcoming chapters. Thanks for reading! Until the next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back everyone. So I've realised I've made an error. In the last chapter, I mentioned in the fore note that Bella had never met any of the Cullen's, but then I remembered in the first chapter I had written her to meet Edward in Biology. I blame baby brain, or it could be I just didn't think to go back to my first chapter and review before continuing. But it was about a year ago when I first wrote that chapter, so I apologise if I confused anyone! I will mention Edward and the Cullens again in upcoming chapter's but they won't be staying for long as I don't want to focus on them for too long.**

 **Anyway, that out of the way, let's continue with Paul's thoughts…**

Paul's POV

"Oh fuck Paul, ah yesss, fuck me"

I swear to God if this girl doesn't shut up.

"Shush, I said no talking. I just want a quick fuck and then I'm out" I said, pumping my hard sheath into this random fast and hard. What was her name? Lucy? Emma? Fuck, I didn't know, but it didn't matter, I was almost done with her. A few more hard strokes and I pulled out, started pumping myself hard until I filled her back was covered in my white liquid. I tucked myself back into my cut offs and gave her ass a small smack.

"I'm not finished with you yet Paul, get back here" whatever her name was said.

"Nah, I'm good, I don't fuck the same girl twice. Well, maybe sometimes I make exceptions. I'm leaving now, and don't call me again" I said, and I felt like the harsh bastard I grew up to be. I threw my t shirt over my head and held the door open for her. She got the message and picked up her clothes before running out of the door with tears in her eyes. I had finished my patrol earlier and was looking for a fuck. I noticed this smoking hot girl at the beach on the way back to my house before she approached me and started flirting. But I only wanted the one thing; a quick fuck, no strings attached. Soon enough, we had gone back to my house and I was pounding into her tight passage. Sometimes I thought I didn't know how to love. I don't even love myself. All that shit I had to put up with growing up, Dad beating on me, Mom leaving me to deal with it, that shit does things to a kid. I needed a shower, I didn't even wash before fucking that girl, but now I felt even more dirty. I was about to wash the smell of sex off of me when my phone rang. Fucking Sam!

"Sam, what do you want?" I answered harshly.

"There's a fresh leech trail near the border, I need you to go with Jake to check it out. Meet us at Emily's after" Sam said.

"Leeches? Could it be the Cullen's Sam?" I asked, they were the only damn leeches close enough.

"I didn't recognise the scent, and the Cullen's know to keep off our land, they wouldn't want to break the treaty"

"Alright, I'll go check it out. Might be a nomad passing through or something, Jake's already there?"

"Yep Jake's there already, he's pacing the eastern border until you get there. Just make sure the trail has faded before you come back"

"Yeah will do Sam, see you then" I headed for the back door, taking off my cut off's and phasing. I was met with Jacob in my mind.

 _Hey man, get down here so we can leave already- Jake_

 _I'm coming, chill, has it gone yet? - Paul_

 _Nah, still fresh, I'm by the eastern border but it's strongest north east, Sam said to wait until you get here to check it out- Jake_

 _Alright I'm on my way- Paul_

I headed through the woods towards the borderline, it was close to the main road on First Beach. Then I smelt it; leech. But it wasn't coming from the East. A white flash crossed my vision and my wolf ran towards the vampire.

 _Shit, was that leech? I'm on my way Paul, the scent has faded here – Jake_

I could hear Jacob and see that he was crashing through the woods towards me. I focused on the vampire before bursting into an opening of meadow. I was off of tribal territory and was met with the Cullen's. My wolf growled loudly. The tall one with blonde hair stepped forward holding his hand out.

"I apologise for the scare, we noticed a scent that we were familiar with and decided to intervene. We never crossed onto your territories I can assure you" he said in a calm manner. Fuckers, it could have threatened our tribe, I thought.

"No, it's not a threat to your tribe. It was just a nomad passing through, I'm not even sure they're aware of your existence" the one with the strawberry blonde hair said. I growled again, fucking reading my mind. I phased where I stood, I didn't have my cut offs on me, so I stood there buck naked, with a smirk on my face as I saw the female vampires turn their heads. If they could blush, I think they would have right now.

"Go before I call for my Alpha. If we find out you did pass onto our territory, the treaty is null. Be prepared to lose your heads" I said menacingly. There was a crash to my right, and Jacob came through, naked also.

"Get the fuck out of here now, I've told Sam not to worry, you better make sure I didn't lie to him" he growled.

"Of course, we'll be leaving now" the tall one said, and they began to back up, until the one with the ginger hair stepped forward and hissed at me.

"You dog! Is that any way to treat women?" he seethed. I was thinking about my latest screw, and when I could get the next. Ha.

"Edward, please, that's enough. Their business is not ours, let's go" the tall one said.

"Carlisle, you can't hear what he's thinking, it's not right!" Edward shouted, ugh, get a life you virgin. The one called Carlisle pulled Edward away by his arm, and then they were gone.

"Jheez Paul, what the hell were you thinking to make him so angry?" he asked.

"Just the latest girl I screwed, no biggie" I said with a smirk. Jacob turned away slightly embarrassed, he was also a virgin and couldn't understand being able to have sex without being in love. Ugh, what a load of crap.

"Well let's just get back to Emily's, I left Bella there and I need to get back to her. I reckon the Cullen's will clean up their own mess" said Jacob before tremors filled his body and he leapt into the air before gracefully landing on his wolf paws. I followed in suit and we bound towards Emily's house. When we arrived in the tree line just beside the cabin, we phased back and slipped on a pair of stashed cut off's that she kept around for us. Before we could step out of the tree line, Jared appeared.

"Jake, you're needed"

"What!? Can't it wait, whatever it is?"

"Nah, your dad said it's important, come on" Jared said, and with a loud huff Jake followed him. I shrugged my shoulders and bounded through the screen door and straight into the open kitchen. As soon as I got in, I locked eyes with who I was assuming was Bella Swan. Then everything stopped. She was the most important thing to me. I would do anything for her, I would do anything to make her happy. _Yes! She is ours now!_ My wolf sits up, wagging his tail excitedly.

So, I imprinted on the Bella girl, great. My wolf was ecstatic _. Mine. Want. Need_. The man, however, was a little pissed. I knew it would happen eventually, but I never expected it to be on the Swan girl. The girl that Jake was obsessed with, plus she was a spoiled child. Always taking things for granted from what I could tell from Jake's mind. _She is ours, we must take her and mark her as ours._ Shut up wolf, imprinting fucking sucks. _Take! Fuck. Mark her._ Fuck! I could feel my wolf taking over but I pushed him down. I hated imprinting, especially watching Leah Clearwater suffer at the hands of it. At least I got to experience her goods in the aftermath. Besides the point! Imprinting took away choices! Not just mine, Bella's too. At first, she'll feel a pull towards me, but won't understand why. She'll be confused, try and talk to me about it, then she'll want to kiss me, and we all know where that would end up with me. To hell with that! It's not the fact that it's Bella, I mean I hardly know her, but all I know is Jake is in love with her, but he doesn't admit it. Fuck this is going to be so complicated! I could see Sam's piercing stare in the side of my head, but I didn't acknowledge him. I was still staring at Bella and knew I should probably stop, but when I saw her little eyes move up and down my body, there was no way in hell I was taking my eyes off of her. Ha! She checked me out! Like what you see little girl? Lost in my own thoughts, I heard Bella say she needed some air as she barged past me, her little arm brushed mine and I felt myself grow hard at her small touch. Fuck, this was going to be difficult. The good thing about her leaving the room was I finally snapped out of my intense stare. Quil, Embry and Seth didn't seem to notice that I had imprinted, probably too busy stuffing their faces with food. Sam whistled, and they ran out the door and into the woods. Sam gave me an intense look, a hard pat on the shoulder and followed the rest of the guys outside. Before he left the porch, where I peeked and saw little Bella sitting, with her hands in her lap, Sam turned back to shout.

"Paul, I need you to stay here to guard to Rez, there shouldn't be any problems, but it's just in case. Plus you need to rest, you've been on patrol all night" You got that right Sam. I was completely exhausted after a long patrol and a quick screw. Fuck! I completely reeked of sex! I had completely forgotten about it, but Sam just gave me a last nod before leaving. He fucking knew what I had been up to. FUCK. I knew Bella couldn't smell it, but it made me feel dirty to smell like this when I was so close to her.

I was stood directly behind Bella, and I caught her tense up as she realised I was there. Emily was still staring after Sam even though he was long gone now.

"Bella, would you like to come back in?" she asked Bella. Bella politely refused saying she would be in in a few minutes, leaving us on the porch together. I took a seat next to her, staring out into the treeline, trying to listen for any threat to my Bella. I turned my head to face her, but she was blatantly avoiding my gaze. Ha, she probably felt a little awkward.

"Any reason you're staring at me?" she asked. Fuck I didn't know what would come out of my mouth if I tried talking to her. Call me a pussy, but she was different from those other girls. I cared for her now. Instead I turned to look back to the tree line. _Ours._ Yeah alright wolf, I'm getting to it. She seemed to get impatient with waiting for me to talk to her, so she said that she was going back in. I grabbed her hand and yanked her back to me gently before she even got off of the first step.

"Just sit here for a bit longer" I said quietly. Ugh this was so unlike me! I felt nervous to talk to her! We were looking into each other's eyes and she was still holding my hand. I knew I should probably let it go, I didn't want to contaminate her pure beauty with my ugly lifestyle, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to hurt her feelings by suddenly dropping her hand. We were sat there for ages, just holding hands, not talking, until I felt the air get chilly. It didn't bother me at all, but I knew Bella must be feeling it.

"Do you mind if I go in now? I'm just getting a bit cold" she said whilst staring at our entwined hands. I laughed and let go of her hand. I held the door open for her as she trailed inside. Emily asked if she wanted tea which Bella accepted. I could tell she was a bit tense and uncomfortable with me in the same room, so when Emily told her to make herself comfortable and Bella settled in the living room, I stayed in the kitchen, sat at the large table, just staring at the back of her head. After Emily handed her the mug of hot tea she asked if I would keep Bella company, so she could pop over to Billy's. Jacob wasn't due back for an hour or so yet, so I was going to stay, only to make sure she was safe. She turned back to me and gave me a wink. Emily don't get involved! I got up and settled myself into the couch opposite her. I was going to sit next to her, but I wanted to watch her body language when she was around me. I really wanted to talk to her, but I didn't know what to say. So instead, I made myself look like a complete tool and asked her the dumbest question in the world.

"Bella, right?" yep, that was lame. She gave a small nod, and that did it for me. I was up and next to her within a few seconds, keeping a bit of space between us so she didn't feel uncomfortable. I let my arm rest of the back of the couch, my hand very close to her head. I could practically feel the softness of her hair. I could smell her delectable smell; strawberries and vanilla. God, it did things to me. She seemed nervous as her hands couldn't keep still on the mug. After a while of internal pep talking from herself, she seemed to find the confidence to put her mug down and turn her whole body to face mine. She rested her head on the back of the couch, and my hand automatically began touching and caressing her soft hair.

"It's strange" she said in a quiet voice. I knew what she was talking about. She thought the energy between us was strange. I completely agreed, but for different reasons.

"Strange? I don't find it strange, well, I find it strange that it's you" I said truthfully, as my hand continued to gently tangle in her beautiful brunette locks.

 **A/N: So a little insight into Paul's mind. How did you find that point of view? I think he will stop sleeping with all of those women now he has Bella, but only if he finds the courage to communicate with her, which he seems to have a hard time doing. There will be more Paul POV's in upcoming chapters. Thanks for reading and sorry for the late update! Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

Hi Everyone, I yet again apologise for the lateness of this chapter… I would give you a good excuse but I literally couldn't find the time to sit down for an hour or two and write! I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now and it's been eating me up that you guys were waiting for this! I really am sorry… but never fear, the chapter is here! I will try my best to keep uploading consistently, or maybe write a few chapters and then upload one a week or something, I'll figure it out.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the story…

 **Bella POV**

Today was the day I was going to see Emily. Paul text me to say Sam was picking me up and that he didn't mind doing it when I kicked up a fuss, but I had a feeling there was another reason Sam wanted me alone. I was in the kitchen getting Charlie's dinner ready, as I was expecting to not be back until late. I hoped this chat with Emily enlightened me about imprinting. A part of me wished Paul never told me. From what he had told me, imprinting forced feelings onto each other. It didn't seem natural and how would I ever know Paul really loved me for me and not the imprint? These were one of the many questions I had for Emily, I hope she didn't get bored of them. As I placed Charlie's prepared meal into the fridge, I heard a honk from outside. Quickly throwing my shoes on and taking one last glance in the mirror in the hall and went out to meet Sam. He was waiting in his white pick up truck, blue tarp covered the back of it. I climbed into the truck and was greeted by Sam.

"Hey Bella, you okay?" he asked, as I plugged my seatbelt in. He pulled out onto the main road.

"I guess, I'm just confused to be honest Sam" I sighed whilst looking out of the window at the passing trees and cars on the road.

"Listen Bella, it's complicated stuff. But the talk with Emily should help enlighten things for you, you'll see" he said confidently. I hoped he was right.

The drive to La Push didn't seem as long when someone else was driving and soon enough we were driving through the reservation towards Sam's house.

"Imprinting is complicated but it's honestly the best thing that can happen for a wolf. We are so volatile and angry before we have our imprints, they help make us balanced and to be honest, we get to relax from time to time" Sam said with a small laugh at the end.

"So you know Paul imprinted on me. He told me about the wolves and the legends, and that imprinting was a gift the Gods gave warriors for their service, or something like that"

"Look Bella, you're gonna hear a lot of strange and horrible things about Paul, but just remember that it's his past. Don't you have a past?" he asked without expecting an answer. I totally understood what Sam was saying, but what if Paul's 'past' came back to haunt him? I know Sam was talking about the girls Paul had been with and honestly, it bothered me a little bit, not the fact he had been with so many women, no that wasn't it. It was because he seemed to toss them aside after he was finished with them. I mean, who's to say he wouldn't do that to me as well?

"I get that Sam, really I do, and honestly it doesn't bother me as much as you think it might. But these intense feelings are unbearable, especially since I've not experienced anything like this before. My need for Paul is intense, and I don't even know the guy!" I was exasperated.

"Well Emily can ease your mind. But take it easy on Paul, he's really trying his best" he said with a small smile. I didn't reply and the rest of the car ride was filled with silence. Once Emily's house came into view, I physically relaxed. I felt safe here, I felt comfortable. Emily was waiting on the porch, coffee mug in her hand. Sam opened my door for me and I jumped down and immediately headed for Emily.

"Hey Bella! I was wondering when I would see your face around here again" she said brightly, pulling me into a tight hug. I hugged her back, Emily was my friend, it seemed the only one I had.

"Come on in, I hope you're excited for a girls day, I know I am!" she said enthusiastically, practically pulling me into the kitchen, where there were muffins and coffee mugs waiting on the large kitchen table. I sat down and helped myself to a muffin, mmm blueberry. Emily sat down opposite me and for the first few minutes we talked about my school and my friends there.

"Yeah I mean I have a few friends, but I don't see them outside of school. So can I count them as friends?"

"Of course they're your friends, even if you don't see them outside of school. How is Jake? Have you managed to speak to him yet?" Emily asked. She took a sip of her coffee and was fiddling with the edge of the muffin wrapper. I sighed loudly.

"Well, he's ignoring me, or avoiding me. He's angry because Paul imprinted and I didn't return Jake's feelings. I mean, I've always made it pretty obvious, haven't I?" I asked Emily. I wondered if that's what it looked like from an outsider's point of view.

"Of course, Bella, whenever he tried to take your hand, it looks like you let him hold it for a few minutes, so you didn't hurt his feelings, but then you'd pull your hand away. I mean, it could be interpreted as feelings to Jake, but he's young, and hormonal, it's to be expected" she finished with a laugh. I, however, didn't laugh. Had I really been doing that? I never noticed myself, but its obvious other people had been. Maybe talking to Emily about Paul was a bad idea. There was silence as Emily seemed to sense my internal dilemma. She patiently waited for me to talk first, not wanting to push it. I took a deep breath and began.

"What do you think of Paul, Emily?" I asked timidly.

"Paul had it tough growing up. His dad used to beat him and his mom and then one day his mom couldn't take it anymore and left them both. Paul's dad took it out on him. He ended up in hospital and it was only then that social services got involved. He's a tough cookie though, he's the strongest person I know" she said. I knew Paul had a rough upbringing, but I never would have imagined that. The poor guy, no wonder he was scared about me leaving him. Fuck, I was so stupid and selfish! All the phone calls and checking up on me made sense now! He was afraid that I would leave him like his mom left him. I found myself asking the same question as before; what the hell was wrong with me?

"Oh Emily, I didn't know it was that bad. I feel so terrible for saying I needed time. He was so afraid of me leaving, I didn't even realise it was because of this!" a tear escaped my eye before I could stop it. Emily took my hand from across the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"No Bella, you're completely within your right to want time, even Paul knows this. He was expecting it in all honesty. He knows you won't leave him, because it would physically hurt you to be away from him, that's what sucks about imprinting. But the pain is also a way for imprints to know how each other are feeling so you can attend to each other's needs. That's something that normal couples don't have, and I for one am happy for it"

"But imprinting to me just seems artificial. I mean, if it wasn't for imprinting, would Paul and I ever have been together?"

"Imprinting just speeds up what nature had already intended. Most likely without the imprint, you and Paul would have found each other eventually, it may have taken months or even years, but you would find each other"

"Okay, but what about how I think this makes me look? I mean, I'm not in any way judging Paul, but come on, I know the type of girls he usually goes for, if I was with him, wouldn't people look down on me? Oh God it sounds horrid when I say it out loud" I huffed in frustration. Goddamn it Bella, you could have said that a bit more nicely. I looked up at Emily, and she didn't seem angry or upset with me, so I waited for her to answer.

"Bella, because of Paul's upbringing, he could never do what he wanted to do. He always had to ask permission from his dad to do anything, even to go to school! When his dad finally died, a few years back, Paul was free. Free to do what he wanted. But he was never taught right from wrong, so he used his freedom to get drunk and sleep with women. After a while of doing that, that was all he knew how to do. It was his way to de-stress. But now he has you as his imprint, you can help him de-stress in different ways, that's why the imprint takes place. It's more or less a way to balance the wolf and make him more stable and focused" she said before taking a bite of her muffin.

"Emily! What if we decided to give the couple thing a go, and we had a huge argument! Would he get drunk and sleep with women to de-stress from that?" I half shouted. I know she didn't mean to upset me, but I couldn't honestly answer without raising my voice a bit. Emily let out a sigh.

"Bella, the imprint doesn't allow cheating, in any way, shape or form. Even if either of you had temptation, the imprint would snap at you to stop, besides, you will be the only thing Paul is thinking about. Even if he was in a situation where he was drunk in a bar with countless women flirting with him, he would only be thinking of you. He wouldn't dare touch them, because he has you" she said softly. I didn't know whether to feel reassured by this information or creeped out. I was trying to go into this with an open mind, but the fact that the only thing Paul would be thinking about is me seems a bit unnatural. Surely he should have a choice in this too?

"Paul was talking to me about choices, when we kissed he…" I stopped myself mid sentence. Fucking shit! No one knew about that yet. Emily's face was shocked, her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open, then she started flapping her hands up and down letting out a little shriek like a teenage girl.

"Bella! You kissed? Oh my God! Wait, he didn't force it on you did he?" she suddenly turned serious.

"Emily no! I was the one that kissed him first! I didn't know what came over me! We were getting a bit carried away, but when I said his name he sort of snapped out of it and stepped away from me. It was like he had realised something, and then he said 'you deserve to have a choice in this'. But it's not just my choice is it? He deserves a choice too, he should get to choose if he really wants this or not. Not some Quileute magic saying he really wants me, how is that fair?"

"Bella it is his choice as much as it is yours. He could choose to fight the imprint. It would be immensely painful to both of you, but it could be done in time. But the fact that he isn't fighting it proves that he has made his choice; he wants to give you two a go. Have you heard about Sam and Leah?" she turned quiet and her face dropped to pick at her muffin case again. I nodded, I had heard what happened, only briefly from Jacob.

"Sam and Leah were engaged to be married Bella. I was arriving for the wedding! Leah invited me into this house; which used to belong to her and Sam, to get ourselves ready for her big day, the next day, and as soon as Sam seen me, he imprinted. Leah didn't have a clue of course, she wasn't a wolf back then.."

"Wait a minute… Leah is a wolf too?!"

"Yes she is, her and her brother Seth are part of the pack. Anyway, when Sam had imprinted on me, he carried on acting as normal until he couldn't take it anymore, he had to talk to me. He sent Leah away to her mom's to see her before the big day came around, and we were alone. He told me all about the legends, the pack and imprinting. I was so shocked by it I slapped him. But it was when I saw his face after I had done it, that was what broke me. The look of utter betrayal and hurt. Suddenly, we were in each other's arms and we kissed. Leah was gone all night, she asked Sam if he would stay at Jacob's house for the night so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable, but I woke up the next morning with Sam naked next to me. That was where Leah found us. She was already in her wedding dress. I'm so ashamed of my behaviour Bella, but I don't regret it, not for a second. I wish I could have handled it better than I did, but having Sam makes me a better person. I love him and he loves me" she finished with a gentle tear escaping her eye. She swiped it away before I could notice, but I already had. I was gobsmacked. I didn't know that was how it happened. A part of me wanted nothing more to do with Emily, but that wasn't going to happen. We needed each other, and despite what she had done to her cousin and best friend the day before her wedding day, it wasn't her fault.

"Emily… this is why imprinting scares me. Look what it made you and Sam do! The day before his wedding to the love of his life! That's so fucked up!"

"Bella listen! Sam and I are completely different to you and Paul! Imprints happen in different ways, but eventually it get's better…"

"… but not better for Leah! What happened to her after she found you?"

"Well, she demanded to know what the hell happened and that was when Sam called off the wedding and said he was in love with me and wanted to be with me instead. He basically moved Leah out that day and moved me in a week later" she said in a small voice, feeling ashamed of herself.

"But what happened to Leah? I'm guessing she didn't take it well"

"Ever since that day, she's become bitter. She's angry and hates everyone, she'll pick fights as often as she can, and she sort of went off the rails a bit, getting drunk with random strangers and sleeping with different men every night, that was when her mom and dad found out and staged an intervention"

"What kind of intervention? What did they do?"

"They literally dragged her back to the house and locked her in her room for a day. They let her out when Sue had dinner ready so she could join the family for a meal, and that was when she phased. That was why Harry died. The shock of seeing his only daughter phase into a wolf, that was never mentioned in the legends, gave him a heart attack and he didn't make it" Emily was full on crying now. I felt a little uncomfortable to be with her knowing what I now knew and I felt sympathy for Leah, I wanted to talk to her about it.

"Bella, I know what you're thinking, and that isn't a good idea" Emily said suddenly turning serious.

"Why not? Doesn't she deserve a friend?" I said viciously. Emily flinched at my tone but I didn't regret it. She didn't answer, but she leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Bella, I think before you hear it from someone else, you should know this. About a week after Leah found us in her bed, her and Paul slept together. They kept it going for a few months before they decided to stop. I didn't want you hearing it in passing and think we were keeping it from you, but you're Paul's imprint now, you deserve to know everything" I didn't know if Emily told me that to be spiteful or nice.

"Like I said before, Paul has a past. I don't have a past but I'm not judging his. I just want to know how to make this imprint work. Should I even consider giving it a go?" I said calmly, trying to get the conversation back on topic. It was clear we were both getting upset by the path of the conversation and we needed to get back onto safe land, so to say. Emily reached for my hand.

"Like Paul said Bella, it's your choice. You do what you want to do. If you truly believe you and Paul can make a go of what the God's have given you, then try it. But they wouldn't have matched you if they thought you were incompatible, just keep that in mind" she said with a smile. Emily offered more coffee and I gladly accepted. I was glad we were back to why I had come here in the first place. I needed advice and I think I was finally getting it. I had made my decision. I would give Paul a chance.

 **Emily's POV**

I was so glad to have a girl to talk to. Even if it was Bella. All I had ever heard about her was bratty comments from the teenage wolves. She seemed nice enough, but I could sense straight away that she was on Leah's side when I told her the story of how me and Sam happened. I had to act quick, so I told her about Paul and Leah's history. I was hoping it would make her crumble, hoping it would break her to hear it. But it did the complete opposite! As I was refilling our coffee mugs, I looked to see Bella having a mental conversation with herself. She was staring into space, just thinking. Then the smile before she spoke said it all; she was going to give Paul a chance. I had to think of another way to keep her away from Paul, even if it was to make her hate him. I didn't know what to do about that yet, so I continued to act friendly. It wasn't all an act of course, she was genuinely a great person to be in company with, but the part of her that annoyed me was that she had Paul; and I didn't.

 **A/N: oooooh! Sorry for the cliffy! I decided to make a last minute change to the story, but it will make it so much more interesting! I'm glad Bella finally got the answers she needed to make a decision and I think her and Paul can make it work, but why does Emily want Paul? Is there history between them? Is Sam not enough for her? So many questions! All will be revealed in upcoming chapters. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! Sorry if the last chapter left you confused at the end, but I wanted to give the story a twist, and boy will you get it! But enough of the hints… let's get back to the story.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! You give me the motivation to continue writing 3**

 **Jacob POV:**

I was so angry with Bella! She knew how I felt but she just sits there and announces that Paul imprinted on her and she needs my help. Some friend she was! I can't believe I wasted all of those years pining after her when she never even bothered to even return the feelings. I get you can't make people like you like that but I thought we had a connection. Yes, it had been 10 years since we had really seen each other but I never stopped loving her! I sent her letters and tried to skype but she would never write back or answer my skype calls. I made my love for her obvious, or so I thought. I'm so mad at her! But oh God, I love her so much. Why, why of all people, did Paul have to come and take her from me? Why did he take the only person that made me happy? Made me keep hope during those 10 years? Sure, I had my odd time with a few girls but it was never more to me than a fling. Even when I was with them, I was picturing Bella, it was her face and voice screaming my name in pleasure. I just had to think of a way to make her see that Paul was bad. He was nothing but a womaniser and a drunk with a bad temper, why would she want to be tied to that forever? Maybe I should just talk to her again; maybe I should try and make her jealous? Yeah, that could work. If she saw me with another woman, she might get jealous enough to dump Paul and be with me. Yes, that would work! Now it was time to put my plan into place…

 **Bella POV:**

The talk with Emily had definitely put things into perspective for me. Now it was time to find Paul. I was still on the reservation, I left Emily's a few hours ago, but I was driving around looking like a complete lunatic looking for Paul. I tried the beach, the local town and even went to his house, but he wasn't there! Ugh! Where was he? Maybe he was running a patrol? Hmmm, I would have to ask Sam, but that would mean going back to Emily's, and it was so far from where I was currently. I'd been sat in this truck for an hour now, outside of Paul's house, just waiting for him to turn up. I mean, he had to, eventually didn't he? What if his patrol was all night? Ugh I didn't fancy sitting there all night, even if I really wanted to see him. As I started the engine to head home, my phone vibrated. It was a text from Paul.

 _'_ _I can see you, stay there, I'll be 15 minutes'_

I smiled when I saw his message. Now I had come to the realisation that I wanted to give this imprint a good go, for all it's worth, Paul might actually be good for me. I'd never really had a boyfriend before, except for a boy back in Phoenix, but I never counted him. It only lasted around 2 months and he was constantly flirting with other girls in the school and I rarely saw him. So, no, I didn't count him as a boyfriend. Even still, the time I had already spent in Paul's presence was intense. I'd never felt anything like it- but I liked it. Like Emily had said, he would always be there for me and he couldn't cheat. That put my mind at ease somewhat. Of course, I had my doubts about Paul, I hardly knew the guy! I only knew what people had told me and that was bound to be mostly biased information. I wanted to get to know the real Paul. There must be a soft teddy bear underneath that macho angry wolf somewhere, right? Speaking of which, as I looked into the trees, I saw my silver wolf appear. He was soaked from the rain and as he got closer to my truck, he shook his fur, very dog like and phased back into a human Paul. Oh man, I would never get used to a naked Paul. He did however seem, um, very excited to see me. He smirked at me when he caught me looking at him in that way, before bending down to untie a strap around his ankle with his denim cut offs attached. He slipped them on and walked towards me. I climbed out of the truck and met him in the middle. We didn't touch one another, just stood there and looked. Now I could look at his face up close and really take notice, I realised he was so handsome. His cheekbones were chiselled and firm, he had perfect eyes and nose and his top lip was thinner than his bottom one. I brought my hand up to brush his cheek as he leaned in, lupine style. He smiled against my hand.

"So I'm guessing the talk with Emily went well?" he said brightly as he took my hand that was draped by my side. He intertwined out fingers together and pulled me closer to him.

"She made me realise a few things, and to be honest, even as mad as it sounds because I hardly know you, I couldn't imagine living without you. It's painful to even think about" I said with a choke at the end. It was true; thinking about a life without Paul, now I knew he was with me, was dreadful. He pulled me into a tight hug and just held me, whispering gently into my ear.

"Shhh, I'll never leave you Bella. We're a team now, okay? I'll always have your back, like you'll have mine. I'm yours forever" He trailed open mouthed kisses behind my ear and down my neck. Ahhh, I loved it when he did that. He could literally talk me into anything just by doing that. As he continued to rain kisses down to my throat, he let out a groan.

"Fuck you taste so good" he murmured against my skin but continued. A soft moan that I was involuntarily holding back, escaped my lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands travelled upwards. I was trying to get my breathing under control; the pleasure he was bringing to my body was unreal, and he'd hardly touched me yet. Finally, his lips had ventured to my face and captured my own in a heated battle. Before he could take the lead, I took his bottom lip between my teeth and tugged, opening his mouth for me to slide my tongue roughly into his mouth. His loud moan as he sped up the kiss told me he appreciated it. After about a minute of passionate kissing, I pulled my head back, so I could breathe. Paul didn't stop his sweet torture, he continued kissing my neck again, gently sucking the skin. Oh man this felt too good to stop him, but I knew we were going to cross a line soon if we didn't, and I wasn't ready for that step yet. I grabbed a handful of his jet-black hair and yanked his head back. He had a smirk on his lips like a little boy being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. We were both breathing heavily, he leaned his forehead against mine.

"I need some time before… you know…" I whispered, a little embarrassed at my lack of experience. He gave me a gentle peck on the lips before he pulled himself away from me, but keeping my hand entwined with his.

"I don't want to ever pressure you Bella, so have as much time as you want… but not too much, the wolf gets impatient" he said with a smile. I rolled my eyes and agreed I would think about it. Sex was a big step in any relationship, but I wasn't in a normal relationship. Plus, I wasn't going to have sex with a guy I hardly knew, that wasn't me.

"It's not that, I just don't know you, I hardly know anything about you, like what your favourite colour is or if you have syrup or honey on your pancakes? That stuff matters to me, well not those questions exactly but you know what I mean and I couldn't possibly even think about doing… you know… with someone I hardly know and I think that…" Paul had silenced me by pressing his lips to mine. He didn't push further than that and when he pulled back, he was laughing.

"You are one of a kind, woman. But I wouldn't change anything about you. We'll get to know each other, don't worry. We'll take it as slow as you want, because you're worth waiting for a thousand years, well, I hope I don't have to wait that long" he laughed out loud. I laughed too.

"So, in light of getting to know each other, how about a date tomorrow night?" he asked hopefully. He was playing with my fingers in the hand he was holding, he seemed a little nervous to ask me.

"Yes that sounds nice" I said with a smile. Ah, it felt nice to be wanted.

 **Paul POV:**

"Yes that sounds nice" she smiled. Ah, Bella was just perfect. I honestly don't know what I was doing before I found her. Fucking all of those girls was absolutely nothing compared to even talking to Bella. She made me so happy, but she was completely right of course. We had to get to know each other before we decided to finalise our commitment. And by finalise, I meant sex. Of course, I wanted to pound the shit out of her, I wanted to feel pleasure from her and give it to her. I wanted to watch her face as I made her climax, over and over again. But I was a patient man; my father had made me that way. I waited for years for him to finally die so I could have my freedom, so yes, I could wait a month or two. Any longer and I might explode from want. But being with Bella in an intimate way would feel different to me. All of the times I fucked those random girls, I felt nothing inside. Just guilt and regret after every single one. I knew I treated them like shit, but that was the only way I knew how to behave. But not with Bella. My Bella. She was different; pure. The fact that she was a virgin excited me. I would be her first and I had to make it special and on her terms. In a way, it would be my first time, as in the first time I make love. From the get-go, I just fucked. I never made love, but Bella deserved nothing else. Obviously if she asked me for harder and faster, what kind of guy would I be to deny the lady. But until that day came, I would do everything in my power to get to know her as best I can. I helped her into her truck, with promises of tomorrow.

"I'll pick you up at 6pm tomorrow" I said.

"What do I wear?" she asked innocently. Ugh my brain was going haywire right now. My mind was now picturing Bella naked! She didn't even realise what she had caused inside my head as she waited patiently for me to answer.

"Casual, jeans" I specified, not trusting myself to speak anymore than two words right now. She nodded, but then sadness filled her face. Before I closed the truck door, I took her face between my hands as she leaned down to kiss me again.

"It's only until tomorrow, and it'll give you something to be excited about. It'll fly by okay?" I gave her one last kiss, before I, and painfully, detached myself from her and closed the truck door. She started the engine and gave me one last look before pulling out onto the main road. I watched her go until I couldn't see her truck on the road anymore. As soon as it disappeared, my heart dropped. Man, I would miss her. These last few days have been hard enough, but now I know she wants to try giving us a go, it's almost unbearable to let her go. I got back to my house in quick time, having a quick shower and getting into bed. I had the early patrol so I hoped to get a few hours kip. I had just closed my eyes when I heard my phone vibrate against the wood on my dresser. I picked up my phone and saw a new message from Bella.

 _'_ _I miss you already'_ Aw man, this was harder than I thought it was going to be. All I wanted to do right now is run to her house and spend the night with her, just cuddling. I typed out a quick reply.

 _'_ _I know baby, I miss you too, I have the early patrol but I'll see you at 6 tomorrow okay? Until then, try and get some sleep'_

 _'_ _Okay, it's just so hard. I'm so sorry for putting you through this the past few days, even a few hours is unbearable for me'_

 _'_ _It's okay baby, I understand why you did it. And just so you know, I'm glad. It made it all the more special'_

 _'_ _You're such a good person Paul, so loving and kind, I'm so glad I have you'_ Ah man, if only she knew how fucked up, I really was. The shit I had done in the past made me look like a monster, and if she knew about any of it, well the really bad stuff, then she definitely wouldn't be saying I was loving and kind. She'd probably slap me and tell her to stay away from her. God, even the thought of her doing that to me made my heart throb.

 _'_ _Try and get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow baby'_ She didn't reply, I expected she fell asleep before she could. Well at least she got to sleep okay. I, on the other hand, was struggling big time. I had my eyes closed for what felt like hours, but eventually I drifted into a deep sleep.

"Paul! Paul man wake up!" Someone was shouting. It sounded close. Too close. I opened my eyes quickly to find Jared pacing by my bed, looking impatient. When he spotted I was awake he rounded on me.

"Dude! What the fuck! Do you know what time it is?" He shouted, I sat up quickly, grabbing my phone, hoping upon hoping it wasn't past 6am. 12.04pm. FUCCKKKKKK! I was 6 hours late to patrol! Fucking shit! How the hell did I let that happen?

"Oh shit man! Fuck Jared, I'm so sorry man" I jumped out of bed and started for the back door to phase when Jared put a large hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"Man look that doesn't matter, you over slept, you've never done that before, you've never missed patrol! What the hell happened to you?" He demanded. Ever since I met Bella, I noticed I was sleeping better, but I always made sure I was at my patrol shift on time. I honestly didn't know how I had managed to sleep through 6 hours!

"Hang on, why didn't Sam or someone come get me when it was my time for switch?" I asked, that was a good question actually.

"Sam said that you had to realise your own mistake, something about making you a better person or some shit. Embry is doing your patrol right now, he just finished up late last night, he only got like 2 hours sleep dude" Jared said. Fuck sake! I was the worst person in the world.

"Well, what happens now? Shall I take over from Embry?" I asked. Why was Jared here and not Sam?

"Hang on, why isn't Sam here? Isn't he the mighty Alpha? Why has he got you doing his dirty work?"

"Sam is with Emily, she was actually the one that talked him into letting you wake up yourself, she said you needed to sleep" Fucking Emily. She never did this! Why would she just tell Sam to let me sleep in and miss my patrol? I was fucking dreading the punishment I was going to get from Sam for missing my shift this morning.

"You better head straight over to Sam's dude, he's kinda pissed" Jared said before leaving out the back door. I didn't bother with a shower and headed straight over in wolf form. As I arrived at the back of the little house, I phased back and put my cut offs on, before making my way towards the porch. Before I could enter the house, Sam stormed out. Jared was right; he was beyond pissed.

"You fucking animal! What do you think you're playing at? Missing your patrol? Do you realise Embry finished patrol at 4 this morning?" he shouted in my face.

"Sam, you know this never happens to me. I never miss patrol, like ever. I honestly don't know why I slept in so late" I said truthfully. Although, I knew the reason why I slept so long; Bella. She had settled something in me last night when she accepted me, when she said she would give us a try. It was like my wolf settled down and I could finally relax.

"Regardless of the reason for missing your patrol, you will serve your punishment. Jake has patrol this evening, 6pm till 2am, you will take that shift so Jake can have the night off"

"Sam! I can't! I promised Bella I'd take her out on a date tonight! She finally accepted me, how can I just let her down now?" I shouted, fucking Alpha. Sam just smirked at me.

"Too bad, you missed your shift, you serve the punishment shift. Maybe Jake can take her out instead, I know they haven't spoken for a while" he said as if it wouldn't fucking hurt me. I fucking hated him so much in this moment. He knew what it was like to not be with your imprint and now I had to go through Bella's pain when I had to cancel our date. I couldn't even imagine the look on her face when I had to tell her.

"I'll do the damn shift, but hell can freeze over before I let Jacob anywhere near Bella, not after what he did to her" I shouted at Sam. I began to vibrate, my body preparing for the phase.

"You will not phase! And Jacob will take Bella out tonight, and you will let him. That is an order!" Alpha order. He fucking alpha ordered me, because he knew I had no choice but to comply.

"Sam! You know how it feels to be away from your imprint! You fucking know! I've just found mine and you stand there and fucking order me to accept another fucking wolf to take her out on my date! Some fucking Alpha you are" I shouted again. I was so angry right now and I was threatening to phase, but Sam's damn order stopped me from doing anything else but vibrate and make my bones ache. Sam just laughed in my face.

"Emily actually suggested Jacob take her out. She wants them to reconcile. When she was talking to Bella yesterday, Bella told her how much she missed Jacob and wants to be close to him again. So, I think this will benefit Bella more than your silly date, don't you think?" he laughed again. If I could phase right now, I would kill him, slowly. I didn't answer, but turned around and walked into the forest whilst Sam shouted at me from the distance.

"That's right! Walk away from difficulties! Like you've always done! Bella doesn't deserve you Paul!" I couldn't understand how Sam could be so cruel. He had always been understanding and caring of the fact that the imprint bond was painful. He had always been good to me, so this sudden change in attitude felt strange to me. It wasn't right; something wasn't right with him. I couldn't even figure it out right now, I had to think of a way to let Bella down. I hate myself so much right now.

 **A/N: A few POV's in this chapter, but I think it really brought this chapter together, don't you? I don't know about you, but I have a feeling Emily is up to something here. Poor Bella! She was looking forward to the date with Paul and now he'll have to cancel. Will she be okay about it? I hope Paul cracks onto Sam soon enough, he knows when something isn't right with his Alpha. Thank you for reading and I will update asap!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter! It was actually really fun to write! Things seem so unfair for Paul at the moment but bear with me! It will get better! I've got an idea for the story, and I think it will work well! I also realised I made a few more mistakes! For the first few chapters I said Bella needed to get rid of her truck and get a car, but the last few chapters I've mentioned that she is now magically driving her truck once again. Don't ask me what happened because I'll probably just blame it on baby brain. Ugh, I can't believe I forgot that. I will revert back to the fact Bella actually has a Juke, so please pretend I've done that for the last few chapters. The other mistake I've made is in the first chapter, I said Bella was 18. Now I've said she's 17, what a complete muppet! I'm fixing all of these errors for future chapters now but please just pretend that I wrote she was 18 :D**

 **A huge thank you to everyone who reviews! You're amazing and you're the reason I continue with the story! I find time for you!**

 **Anyway, enough of that, enjoy the next chapter…!**

 **Emily POV:**

My Sam worked so hard. He was what a real man should be. But there was just one flaw; he wasn't Paul. Ever since Paul had joined the Pack, I knew I had to have him. I was already imprinted to Sam, but there was something about Paul that I craved. He was addictive, like a drug. Of course, Sam never suspected a thing because I never gave him reason to. I was the perfect role play mother to the wolves, always cooking and offering them a place to stay after their patrols. I was a good woman. I was a good person! But I belonged with Paul, not Bella. Not the frigid little school girl that tried to push him away. She caused him pain, even if he wouldn't admit it. I hated it! But I had to pretend to be good about it because Sam was always with me. Whenever the wolf pack were in my kitchen, eating and talking, my eyes would always drift to Paul. Just looking at him soothed my soul. His body was perfect; much better than Sam's. Paul had a bad boy attitude and it turned me on a great deal. Sure, Sam was good in bed, but nothing compared to the stories I had heard from Paul's bedroom ventures. Even fucking Leah had a go with him! Sometimes when Sam and I made love, I would picture Paul. Whenever Sam climaxed from the pleasure I gave him, I pretended it was Paul that was underneath me, groaning my name. I felt guilty for doing it, because Sam really did love me. I do love Sam, I don't love Paul, but I needed him. I just needed him! So if I couldn't have him, no one else would, I would make sure of it! There was a bang downstairs, I assumed it was Sam coming in from his patrol.

"Hey baby" he greeted me with a strong hug and a passionate kiss. Hmm, he sure did taste good.

"How was your shift? I hope it wasn't too tiring" I said whilst getting the plate of food I had prepared for him out of the oven. It was still warm so my Sam could eat straight away. I made him a mug of coffee and placed the plate and coffee in front of him. He looked down at the food and then back at me with the biggest smile on his face.

"You're so good to me Em, I'm so glad I have you forever" he declared, leaning in to give me a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Of course, Sam, nothing but the best for my wolf man" I chuckled before leaning into kiss him again. Our kiss was becoming heated and Sam's hands found my butt and grinded me against his lap.

"Mm fuck Em, I'm not all that hungry you know" he murmured against my throat.

"Sam stop that; you have to eat, or you'll wither away" I said playfully whilst pulling away and turning him to face his plate. He grumbled in response and started eating like a cave man. I knew he was hungry; I always know. That's how I know I'm a good woman for my wolf. _The wrong wolf_.

"So, Paul never turned up for his shift this morning" Sam stated, whilst cutting into his potatoes.

"Really? He's never late for a shift though, do you know what happened to him?" I asked.

"Jared went over to check on him, just in case, you know, and he called me to say he was still sleeping. When I've finished eating, I'm going to go over there and yank his ass out" Sam said, slamming his fist on the table.

"Samuel, watch the table! I have a better idea. You know what Paul is like, he needs to learn from his own mistakes. I say, let him sleep in until he wakes up himself, then you can give him his punishment later" I said calmly. I wouldn't dare make Sam angry again, not after the last time. I know it was only an accident, but he scarred my face. Even though I forgave him to his face, I didn't forgive him. I hated him for scarring my face, that was once beautiful, was now marked with three giant pink scars. We told the locals that it was a bear attack, but I knew the truth. I remember it well; Sam had phased too close to me after Leah found us in her bed as I told him what we had done was a mistake. He got so mad and phased, ripping my face apart in the process. It was the looks on the other wolves faces that surprised me the most. I remember Paul's face, when he came to visit me in hospital. His knuckles were bloody and broken and he looked utterly broken. He thought I was sleeping when he visited, but I was awake when he whispered the words 'I'm so sorry for this Emily' so close to my ear, I could feel his sweet breath on my neck. Even though I was technically in a coma, it still sent a shiver running through my body. It wasn't until I got home, I found out that Paul had beaten Sam to a pulp when he found out what he had done to me. That was before he started sleeping with Leah.

"I guess you're right, but I don't want to be tough on the guy, you know what his childhood was like Em, I'm not going to be that guy to him, I'm not like his father, I mean, what if he…" Sam was cut off by his mobile ringing.

"Jared? Is he awake yet?" Sam asked into the phone. I hoped Paul was still asleep, it would make my plan perfect. Remembering how happy Bella was last night, I knew she had gone to find Paul. I knew the reason he was sleeping in; because his imprint finally accepted him. His wolf had settled. It was the same with me and Sam. After I finally accepted Sam, he and his wolf relaxed considerably, and he basically became my slave without him even realising. I noticed I could manipulate his emotions and decisions just by a few words. That was what an imprint was for, right? To do right by her wolf and make good decisions if he couldn't. It was too easy to do, and I quite enjoyed when I did do it. It made my wolf even more perfect for me.

"Okay, leave him, don't wake him, it's one mistake. He's never missed patrol before. I'll have a word with him when he finally wakes up" Sam said to Jared on the phone before hanging up. I walked through to the living room and took my place on the couch, with a coffee and magazine in hand. As I flicked through, I glanced up at the clock on the wall. The time was 9:35am. Ha, Paul was supposed to start at 6am, he's going to be in such shit with Sam. Well, after I tell Sam what punishment would be acceptable. Sam trailed himself into the living room and sat next to me on the couch.

"Have I told you I love you today?" Sam asked, taking my hand in his.

"Only three or four times" I laughed. He laughed along too. Did I mention Sam was just perfect?

"What are your plans for today Em? You going to see the girls?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure, I have a lot to do around here, but I could drop in and see Kim later" I smiled. Kim was the perfect imprint; after me of course. She was always looking after Jared. We had spoken about Bella between us and even Kim didn't understand why Paul would imprint on her. Maybe I could get Kim to meet Bella?

"Okay well don't push yourself too hard Em, you deserve a day off you know. Why don't you go down to the beach with Kim?"

"I'll see what Kim wants to do" I smiled. I wouldn't mind having a beach day with Kim, I haven't seen her for a few days, and I miss our gossip. Sam went back to the table to finish his meal, and after cleaning his plate and putting it away, he said he was going to try and get a few hours sleep.

"Okay baby, you deserve longer than a few hours' sleep though" I said with a sad smile. My Sammy worked too hard. He gave me one last kiss before climbing the stairs towards our bedroom. I found my mind wandering to Paul again. What made me so attracted to him? Obviously, he was built. I mean, he was a wolf, but he was probably the sexiest man I'd ever seen. Everything about his body was perfect. I'd even see a flash of his privates before he phased. Now that was stuck in my mind all day! Sometimes I dreamed of Paul doing naughty things to me. Sam got the reward from that in the morning. I knew I could never have Paul as my own; I was imprinted to Sam and I did love him. But I had always craved a bad boy, and Paul was just that. He always challenged Sam's Alpha orders and my panties got that bit wetter whenever he did. Ugh, he was amazing. I just could not believe Bella Swan had him. She wasn't right for Paul, not in the slightest! Paul needed someone that would challenge him and let him fuck them. He didn't need gentle sex, he liked it rough. When it finally got out that Leah and Paul had been sleeping together, the wolf pack went crazy. Quil and Embry patted him on the back, Jared just smirked. If Jared didn't have Kim, he'd probably pine after Leah too. It made me feel sick, all the attention she got. And she was such a bitch! I know what Sam and I had done made her that way, but she didn't have to drag it out! Two years is quite long enough to get over it and move on, but no. She'll only talk to Sam when she absolutely has to or when he alpha orders her as a wolf. She hardly comes around for pack meals unless she is alpha ordered too and even then, she makes life miserable for me. I close my eyes and imagine my future with Sam. But I replace Sam, with Paul.

 **Bella POV:**

 _BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_. Ugh, what the hell was that? I opened my eyes slowly, removing my head from the comforter I had thrown over. My eyes travelled over to my bedside drawer where my alarm was sounding. I leaned over and slammed my hand down to silence the offending noise. I checked the time; 10:43am. Shit! I had slept in! I was late for school! I jumped out of bed and ran to the shower, quickly stripping my pyjamas off and jumping under the hot water. After the shower, I ran back to my room to throw some clothes on; light blue denim jeans, a red ¾ shirt and white trainers. I threw my hair up into a ponytail, grabbed my bag and ran down the stairs. I didn't have time for breakfast but wanted something to drink on the way to school. I grabbed an orange juice from the fridge and started for the front door. Once I was in my car, I started the engine and drove faster than I usually do towards the school. As I was just about to drive onto the highway, my phone started vibrating.

"For fuck sake's what now?" I whispered to myself. I pulled over and took my phone from my bag. It was Angela ringing.

"Angela. I know I'm late but I'm almost there, what's up?" I asked quickly, already thinking about what punishment the school would give me for being late.

"Bella. Late for what?" she asked, sounding a little confused.

"School, of course! I slept in; I never miss school!" I exclaimed.

"Bella… it's Saturday" Angela laughed. What!

"Wait it's Saturday?" I asked, a little too loudly. It was Saturday, so no school. What the hell was I doing with myself?

"Oh my God Angela! I'm so dumb! I rushed out of the house thinking I was late! I was just about to pull onto the highway when you called me" I flustered.

"Haha Bella you're too funny. But relax, it's Saturday so there's no school and no detention. I was actually calling to ask if you wanted to sleep over my house tonight? My parents are out for the night and they've taken my brothers, so I have a free house if you wanted some girl time?" she asked. I was about to agree, when I remembered my date.

"Ah Ange, I can't. I have a date tonight" Oh fuck, I forgot I never mentioned to Angela about Paul.

"Wait what? You have a date!?" she practically screamed down the phone. Ah shit, here we go.

"Yes I have a date, but it's a quiet thing. It's with a guy from the Rez, Paul" I should learn to keep my mouth shut. What will I do next? Tell Angela Paul's life story?

"Oh wow Bella! Don't you even worry about me! Just focus on your outfit for tonight and please give me details tomorrow! I'll be waiting for your call!" she exclaimed. I laughed; Angela was the good student in school but it was nice to hear her let go a bit.

"I will Ange don't worry! I had better drive home then, I probably look like a complete idiot" I laughed. After I hung up the phone, I drove myself home. Once I got through the front door, Charlie shouted from the kitchen.

"Hey Bells, where did you run off too?" he asked, with a smile in his voice.

"Oh, it's silly. I thought I had school today. I was on my way there until Angela called and told me it was Saturday" I sighed, already embarrassed. I walked into the kitchen to find Charlie sat at the table with Billy.

"Oh hey Billy, I didn't know you were here. How are you?" I asked nicely. Even though I had a fight with Jacob, which was totally his fault, Billy wasn't to blame. He smiled brightly as I leaned down to give him a hug.

"Hey there girl, so I hear you and Jacob had a little disagreement the other day, wanna tell this old man what happened?" he asked.

"Oh, um, well I asked Jake if he wanted to have dinner with me at the diner, but I think he thought I asked him out on a date, until I told him something, and he completely flipped out on me" I said a little too fast. I had also forgotten Charlie was sat opposite Billy, listening to everything I was saying. Great.

"Well what did you tell him Bells?" my dad asked, sounding a little concerned. Oh, how was I going to put this. I assumed Billy knew about the wolves, considering his son was one, and his grandfather was the chief of the tribe decades ago.

"Um, well, I just needed a friend to talk to about something but I didn't know he would react like that. Especially after 10 years of not seeing each other as well and I also think he thought I liked him and he got a little… "

"Bella… you're rambling girl, come on, out with it" Billy said calmly. Okay, here goes.

"I needed advice from Jake because I was told that Paul has feelings for me but I didn't know how to feel about that so I just asked Jake for help but he completely went nuts on me as if it was my fault!" I exclaimed a little too loudly. I squirmed when I saw Charlie's face blanche.

"Wait, Paul, as in Paul Lahote? Ah Bells, you don't want to be messing around with that kid. He's real trouble, and if I were you I'd…"

"…now Charlie, you know what Paul's childhood was like, can you really blame him for acting out when his dad died? I know I would if I had to go through that for years…"

"…Yes but that's what I mean Billy! He had it rough growing up and that's caused him to act out big time ever since. I mean, I understand why he did it but he was always getting himself in trouble with the law, the amount of DUI charges he has is…"

"… besides the point Charlie. Bella, Paul has told you he has feelings for you?" Billy asked me. He was looking at me in a funny way. He was trying to ask me if Paul told me about the imprint, without Charlie being able to know what he was actually asking me.

"Yes he did, he told me everything, I mean, he told me that he has feelings for me. He actually asked me out on a date, it's tonight" I said with a sigh, I may as well get it out of the way rather than wait and tell Charlie last minute. Charlie raised his eyebrows at my announcement of a date and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Listen Bells, I'm not going to be one of those fathers that tells you what you can and can't do. I want you to be able to make your own decisions, so if you want to go on this date with Paul, then that's okay with me. Just promise me you'll be careful" he said, before turning his newspaper over and opening it in the middle.

"Thanks Dad, that really means a lot. He's important to me, he seems really nice" I said. Billy took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Go get him girl" he said before him and Charlie launched into a fishing related conversation. Now it was my cue to leave before I got dragged into a debate on whether long reels were better than crab nets. I hauled myself up to my room, plopped my bag down onto the floor and sat at the end of my bed, just thinking. I was looking forward to this date tonight; mostly because Paul had promised that we would get to know each other before anything serious happened. I couldn't wait to see him! I missed him so much last night. When I read his text before I slept last night, it made me feel like jelly. He was just so lovely, and I knew he would always protect me; from anything. With that thought, I began searching through my wardrobe, looking for a casual outfit for my date tonight. I was so excited, and I got to see Paul again!

 **Sam POV:**

Emily came and woke me up around 12pm saying Jared was on the phone. I asked Jared to check on Paul again in a few hours to see if he was awake yet, and this was him calling to say he hadn't yet.

"Are you serious Jared? He's still not awake?...Right… okay that's fine… tell him to come straight to me once he does…see you man" and I hung up. I sighed loudly. I really didn't want to be a bad Alpha but Paul had to know this wasn't acceptable. I was going to take it easy on him though; this was his first missed patrol. The other guys had missed plenty more. I'll just tell him off and give him the midnight patrol tomorrow or something, he can miss his day off instead. With my decision made, I made my way downstairs to find Emily busy in the kitchen. God, I loved that woman. She did everything for me. Even when she spoke, I was hypnotised by her words. She made me a better person.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me brightly.

"I did, even if it was a couple hours, I feel refreshed and ready to go" I laughed. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist as she tended to the dishes. I kissed the side of her neck and she shivered.

"What did Jared have to say? Is Paul finally awake?" she asked, sounding eager to know the answer. I laughed at her eagerness.

"Jared said Paul was starting to wake up but nothing permanent yet. I told Jared to tell him to come straight to me so I can talk to him about it. I was thinking of just giving him the midnight shift tomorrow" I mumbled against her skin. Emily's head cocked up and she turned around, soapy hands found the back of my neck as she pulled me close.

"Sam, you're a good Alpha, but you're being his friend right now. You need to be his Alpha in pack matters. Why don't you give him a shift tonight? He can take over from Jacob" she suggested, whilst stroking her soft lips over the shell of my ear. Oh man she made it hard for me to think. In that moment, I couldn't. I just agreed with her. She was my imprint, and she made me feel good. I gazed into her eyes, her big beautiful eyes, one marred with a pink scar that I had gave her. I would never forgive myself for that. Never, even if I phased forever. Looking into her eyes, I felt something inside of me change. I needed to please Emily, I needed to do whatever she wants me to do.

"You may be onto something there Em, but I'm not going to be harsh about it. Jared said he overheard Bella and Paul last night. She accepted the imprint and he asked her out on a date tonight, I can't let him patrol tonight, not tonight" I said, but I had to strain the words out of my mouth. I wanted to do anything that would make Emily happy, so if she wanted me to be a bastard to Paul, I would be a bastard to Paul. Even if I loved him like a real brother.

"You don't have to be harsh Sam, but I would use an Alpha order on him. You know how he gets. This will be good for him, in the long run And listen, maybe this is exactly what Paul needs to grown up. Maybe missing this date with Bella will be a good thing for him" Emily said. I agreed straight away.

"Why not get Jacob to use his free time this evening to try and talk to Bella again? I heard they had a falling out, this would be the perfect opportunity for them to sort things out and be friends again" she said. I couldn't have agreed more. I gave her a hard kiss on the lips.

"Emily you're a genius. I feel so full whenever I'm near you, do you feel it too?" I asked her, searching her eyes. She nodded and locked lips with me again. My phone rang again.

"It's Jared, hopefully with good news" I said before answering.

"Yo man, what's up?"

"He's awake now. I told him to come straight to you and he's on his way, should be there in a few minutes I'd say" Jared said before ending the call. I sighed loudly. I was not looking forward to this. Paul was my Beta, he was the best man I had in the pack. I couldn't afford to scare him off.

"Sammy? What are you going to do? You know I think you should tell Jacob to take Bella out tonight, they need to reconnect their friendship and at least it's better than being alone" Emily smiled brightly. It was a good idea but I wasn't completely sure. Something in me was telling me not to listen to Emily, but she was my imprint, I had to do what she said because it obviously made her happy.

"Okay Em, I'll do that. You're right, Bella will appreciate Jacob being with her rather than staying alone. At least it's the safe option, what with these Cullens running about the place" I said dejectedly. This didn't feel right to me. Not at all. Emily had a huge smile on her face as she kissed me before I sensed Paul's wolf was outside.

 **Emily POV:**

Yes! My plan had worked! Not only did I keep Paul away from Bella, but I got my Sammy to do it for me! Now to get Jacob to go out with her and everything worked how just how I liked it. At the start of their imprint, I genuinely wanted them to be together; I did everything I could for Bella to see that. I even offered Paul alone time with her for Christ's sake! But it was that girl's stupid decision to push Paul away, and that was what did it for me. Not only had I seen first-hand the after effects of his childhood, but I had seen how sensitive he had become, even if he didn't realise it himself. Just the thought of Bella and Paul together made me feel sick. She wasn't good enough for him, no one would be. I was the only one that could make him happy; I can make everyone happy. I wish I could have some alone time with Paul, just to talk, but I'd never get the chance with Sam around me all the time. I needed to think of something. I had to try and talk him into fighting the imprint; it was for his own good. What could Bella ever offer him? How can she be good for him when she left him in pain for days without a second thought about it? Like hell would I see him in pain again. I would find a way, I had to.

 **A/N: What a scheming little so and so Emily is… at least Sam senses something isn't right with him. Is there something that the tribal elders left out when explaining the imprint to Sam? We find out in the next chapter how Bella feels about being let down by Paul, but will Jacob spring a surprise visit? Until the next time…**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello you lovely people! I just wanted to take this time to say a huge thank you to you all- you honestly don't know the influence you have on me. I'm so touched by everyone reviewing and reading my story, even when I thought about just abandoning it in the beginning because of my hectic life. But I didn't want to disappoint you, and hopefully I haven't done that!**

 **Please review or PM me with any ideas you have that you'd might like to see later in the story, I take all suggestions! I want to write this story to suit you readers, so I want it to be perfect for you. Any different character POV's you'd like to see? Would you like Jacob to stay mad at Bella for longer? What about Leah? Send me your ideas and I will mention everyone who has helped contribute to this story!**

 **Anyway, enough of the soppy, let's carry on with the story…**

 **Paul POV:**

I'd never really been scared of anything in my life. When I was a kid, I was terrified of my dad. All I ever received from him was pain, whether that be physical or him implanting it into my head. All I had ever done was cause pain to other people, ever since he died. It was like I was turning into him. The hell with that! I was not my father. I was different. Sure, I was the son of a woman and child beater, but I could never even fathom hitting a woman or damaging her emotionally. I probably had done just that though, hadn't I? All the girls I had tossed away after I had slept with them, I wonder how they felt afterwards? Were they okay? Why was I even bothered? Truth was, I was bothered at the time. Very much so. Seeing their faces fill with sadness and pain at my words and departure made me feel sick to my stomach knowing I had caused it. I didn't want to be that person anymore. I wanted to be good. But now, having to cancel my date with Bella, made me incredibly scared. I mean, for God's sake! She had only just accepted me last night, what's to say she won't change her mind? At that thought, I doubled over and threw the remains of my stomach up onto the forest floor.

"Oh fuck" I heaved. Even thinking about not having Bella made me physically sick. Come on Paul, get yourself together. You're going to go home, shower, and then call Bella. I couldn't even tell her to her face; I didn't want to see hurt fill it. Hurt that I put there. No way was I doing that. I was so pissed and angry that Sam had used Alpha orders like they were toys. How dare he order me to let Jacob take Bella out on a date? My Bella. Like I said before, something wasn't right with him. He was never this spiteful. First Emily, and now Sam? What was going on? My legs had apparently found their own way back to my house, and as I climbed the stairs to enter the front door, I heard a crack in the wood behind me. I turned round, trying to look for danger. My wolf senses didn't pick up anything dangerous, but instinct told me something was going on. Those were the last words my mother had told me before she high tailed it out of Washington.

 _'_ _Always, always follow your gut instinct Paul, it will always be right'_

Maybe she was right, I couldn't say. All I know is that she left me with my abusive father. She knew he would beat the shit out of me when she left, and she still left me there. Why didn't she take me with her? WHY!? Maybe if she did, I wouldn't be the person I am today, I might have been good! No one had ever really loved me in my life. My parents couldn't stand to be near me, I didn't have any friends. It was only until my dad died, I fucked myself up. It was mostly the thrill of being caught that was the reason for my behaviour. That and sex was pretty damn good. Once I sensed there was nothing for me to sort out in the woods, I entered my house and headed for the shower. After the shower, I felt a little better. But then the thought of Bella's face after cancelling our date creeped back into my mind. I let out a huge sigh, sat on the edge of my bed and pulled my cell out. Let's just get this over with…

 **Bella POV:**

I was so nervous and excited all at the same time! My outfit was ready and waiting on my bed, I had showered and styled my hair differently. I wanted to look nice. For Paul and for myself. I would do my make up later, so I decided I'd better make something for Charlie to eat later for dinner. As I entered the kitchen, my dad was sat at the table reading the newspaper. He glanced up when he saw me enter and gave me a knowing smile.

"Your hair looks different, it looks great Bells" he said with a smile.

"Thanks dad, I'm almost ready but I have a few hours yet so I'll get started on your dinner" I said whilst pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards. I heard the rustle of Charlie's newspaper hitting the table.

"Don't worry about me Bells, I'll get a pizza or something. You deserve a night off from cooking" he chuckled.

"I suppose you're right, but I want to make sure you're eating properly. All of this pizza and junk food is no good for your heart you know" I said whilst putting the pans back into the spaces in the cupboard and turning around to give him a smirk.

"Well, it's okay to have it once in a while. I hope you have a great time tonight Bells. I hope he makes you happy. Because no matter what I think of the boy, if you're happy, then I'll be happy"

"Thanks Dad, that means a lot. Well, we're just trying to get to know each other, you know. I'm not jumping into anything with my eyes closed. I want to know the real Paul, not just know him from other people's stories of him" I said. It was true, despite the stories I had heard, and I had heard a lot of them, I wanted to get Paul's view to it all. Why he did the things he did and what he wants from the future. Charlie looked proud.

"You've always been kind Bella. I'm proud of the woman you're becoming. Jesus, 18 years old. I remember when you were knee high to a grasshopper. Don't seem that long ago" he laughed to himself. Ah man, it was awkward when Dad got like this. But what did I expect? I never really lived with him growing up, just visits here and then. I realised he missed out on a lot of my firsts growing up. He wasn't there when I walked for the first time, he wasn't there when I first learned how to ride my bike, he wasn't there when I graduated from my kindergarten. He missed so much, and it wasn't really his fault. It was my Mom's. I loved the woman to pieces, but she really did a number on Charlie. She didn't have to move me across the country to Phoenix and she didn't have to take sole custody of me either. I think it was a way to spite Charlie after their divorce.

"So dad, I'll leave you to order your pizza. I'll finish getting ready then come down before I go" I smiled. Before he could reply, my phone started ringing. It was Paul. A huge smile formed on my face. Maybe he was ringing to tell me he couldn't wait for our date tonight. I left the kitchen and stood in the hall before answering his call. This would be the best night of my life, I'm sure!

"Hey Paul" I greeted.

"Bella, baby, listen, um, about tonight, we're going to have to reschedule. Something has come up and I need to be there. I'm so sorry Bella, I promise I will make it up to you" he sounded so sad and desperate. He cancelled our date. The smile had disappeared from my face and I felt my bottom lip wobble at all of my wasted efforts today.

"You're cancelling our date?" I asked, sadness filling my voice. I couldn't hold it back. He cancelled our date. Oh God, he had changed his mind.

"Bella it's not what you think. I overslept through my patrol this morning and now Sam has put me on patrol tonight to make up for it. I'm so sorry I did this to you, I didn't mean for this to…" I cut him off.

"So, it's Sam's fault we can't have our time together tonight?" I asked quietly. I was confused by this, because I knew Sam, sort of. He always seemed generous and kind, and even if Paul had overslept, he wouldn't take him away from his imprint as punishment, it wasn't Sam's nature to do that.

"It's more complicated than that, but overall, yes, it's Sam's fault. He knew we were going out together but he still put me on a shift tonight. It doesn't make sense to me; Sam has never been this cruel" Paul sounded exasperated. I couldn't believe Sam would do something like this.

"Paul, listen, don't worry about tonight. We have lots of time to go on a date, okay? Don't worry about upsetting me or anything. I mean I'm a little sad that I can't see you, but we always have tomorrow" I said trying to sound hopeful. I was trying to cheer him up; he seemed miserable and as his imprint, I hated it.

"You are a one in a million baby. I'm so sorry again for having to cancel, I'm going to miss you so much, can I see you tomorrow?"

"Of course you can. What time does your shift finish tonight?"

"2am, it's so shit, but I guess I deserve it" he said with disgrace lacing his voice. That made me mad.

"Paul Lahote! Don't belittle yourself! You do not deserve Sam's unkindness, you're a good person and no one should be so harshly dealt with, it's not fair!" I half shouted down the phone, I was so angry with Sam. I was going to find him and have a little talk with him…

"I can't help it, after everything that happened when I was a kid and now Sam treats me this way, I mean you should have heard the way he spoke to me. He treated me like an animal, like he was better than me, he's never done that, and it suddenly just happened!" he angrily shouted down the phone. I knew he wasn't angry with me, but with Sam. I think we all were at this point. I needed to calm him down before he got himself wound up and did something he might regret later.

"Please, just calm down. It's going to be okay. Look, after your shift finishes at 2, come to my house. There's a tree just outside my window, but I guess you can figure out the rest…" I finished, a little embarrassed. I wouldn't allow anything to happen, but I knew he needed company tonight, and maybe as his imprint I could help him feel better about himself. He laughed a little.

"Oh Bella, did you just invite the big bad wolf over to your bedroom?" he said, trying to sound menacing, but epically failing. I laughed along with him.

"Maybe, but no funny business. We still have things to discuss and sort out, but I will leave my window open"

"Yes ma'am" he mocked a military voice. Even though he had to cancel our date, I was happy that he was happy. And I was happy that I would see him tonight.

"Okay well try and at least enjoy your shift a little. Just think of seeing me tonight and I'll be in your arms before you know it"

"Okay baby, I'll definitely see you later, bye baby" he said before I hung up the phone. Paul was just so lovely. I couldn't be mad at him for cancelling the date. I knew he had a busy life, what with the pack and all, so I honestly wasn't at all that worried. I slid my phone into the back pocket of my jeans and headed upstairs to put my outfit that I was going to wear tonight away. Ah well, maybe another time, I thought, as I held it up in my hands to look at it. Once my clothes were away, I decided to get some homework done. I never left homework so last minute, but recently, my thoughts had been bombarded with Paul. I think this was mentioned to me by Emily.

And, done. My homework was finally finished, so I popped it back into my bag, ready for school on Monday. It was only 6pm, the time Paul would have been picking me up. My chest sunk when I realised, he wouldn't be coming. I didn't care about the date, I just wanted to see him. May as well have a shower and get ready for bed. I just wanted this night to be over with. I just wanted to be in Pauls arms already. I shouted down to Charlie to let him know not to run the tap in the kitchen as I was having a shower (it made the water pressure suck) but there was no answer. I shouted again. Still no answer. I went downstairs, wondering why he wasn't answering me. There was a note on the kitchen table.

 _'_ _Bells, had to run out to the station, there was an urgent call for me. I'll be back later tonight, don't wait up'_

Ah, so that's why he didn't answer. Just to confirm, his patrol car was gone from the driveway. Great, I was alone for the rest of the night. Ugh! I was about to go upstairs for my shower when there was a knock on the front door. I was half hoping it was Paul that decided he didn't have to do the shift tonight. With this in mind, I ran towards the door and flung it open… but who was stood there instead, I was not expecting to see…

 **Jacob POV:**

I was on my way to Sam's. He said he wanted to talk to me about something, fuck knows what. The last few days had me thinking about Bella. I might have been a little hasty to blame her for Paul imprinting on her. I was just angry and hurt because she didn't return my feelings. I wanted to be with her so badly! I couldn't imagine living my life with anyone but her. She was everything to me, she always had been. I was in my wolf form in the forest, it was the fastest way to travel for us, but I wasn't running. My wolf was taking a gentle stroll through the woods, no need to rush. Then I smelled him. His scent was strong, and I crept along the side of the trees, just on the inside, so he couldn't spot me. Paul was walking towards his house; his face was sullen and angry. My wolf growled; we were both pissed with him. My wolf didn't like him purely for the fact he was a good fighter, he was a threat. I sat on my haunches, waiting for Paul to spot me; waiting for the fight. Paul had reached his front door now and then he turned around. He was looking right at me in the woods, but something told me he didn't really see me. After about a minute, he gave up looking and carried on inside. I huffed loudly and continued on my way to Sam's. I would do anything to burst through his door and attack him for taking what was mine! Soon, Sam's house came into view and I phased back to human. After slipping my cut offs on, I went for the front door but Sam was already bursting outside, with Emily right behind him.

"Hey man, good to see you" Sam said to me, clapping me on the shoulder. I nodded to him and to Emily and asked why he called me here. May as well get straight to the point, right?

"So, Paul missed his shift this morning so I gave him your shift tonight as punishment. He had a date planned with Bella, but if he can't keep commitments with us why should we let him enjoy his night with his imprint?" Sam huffed angrily. Strange, Sam didn't normally act like this. But I felt happy. Sam had kept Paul away from Bella, and more importantly, I had the night off!

"Awesome! So why exactly did you call me here? I'm guessing it wasn't just to tell me that?" I asked, curiously.

"No, not exactly. So I put Paul on your shift tonight on purpose. I want you to take Bella out instead, think of it as a makeup date, if you will" Sam said, sounding unsure of his own words.

"Wait, you want me to take Bella out on a date? What about Paul? I hardly think he'll agree to this" I said. There was no way Paul would just stand by and watch me take out his imprint whilst he had to watch in the forest during his patrol. No way.

"Well that's why I gave him an Alpha order to stand aside and let you take Bella out. She will be alone tonight anyway, I saw Charlie's patrol car whilst I was doing a circuit earlier so he isn't home. It's safer for her this way anyway. So, what do you say?" asked Sam. Emily came and put her hand on Sam's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. It was always like this. Emily was constantly glued to Sam. It wasn't like that with the other imprints. Jared and Kim had time apart and they actually didn't mind it. Quil and his little imprint Claire didn't see each other much and he didn't hardly complain about it. But Sam and Emily were strange together. There was no Sam without Emily. Even if Sam was on his own, you can bet Emily won't be too far behind. Sometimes Sam seemed a little put off by it, I mean, a guy needs time to himself sometimes. I didn't really know what to say to him. I mean, I'd love to spend time alone with Bella, try and convince her of her feelings for me, but on the other hand, our last meeting went badly. Partly my fault. But I had a plan in place already, and maybe this was just what I needed to put it into place…

"Sure, I'll take Bella out tonight, what time should I pick her up?" I asked.

"6pm. Don't be rude to her, just be nice okay? She's your best friend, and who knows, maybe this date will be a good thing for both of you" Sam said with a smile. Maybe he was right.

"Alright I'll pick her up at 6, thanks Sam" I said before making a run for it to my house to get myself ready. It wasn't just Bella I was getting myself ready for. She wasn't aware of my plan, but it was a win- win. I would make Bella jealous and maybe I'd get a good night with her. Yes, it had to work.

I was ready and waiting outside Bella's house to pick her up. I was trying to work up the confidence to go and knock on her door. I know I had been an ass to her the last time we met up, but I really did want to put that right, one way or another. I found the confidence I was looking for and walked towards the door. I knocked only once, and it was only a few seconds before Bella appeared with a huge smile on her face, until she saw it was me. I bet she was expecting Paul.

"Jacob? What the hell are you doing here?" she asked flustered. She seemed too shocked to be angry with me, so I replied before she could realise that herself.

"I'm here to take you out Bells, as an apology for the other day. I was an ass, I'm sorry" I said, trying to sound sincere enough to convince her. She seemed to be thinking for a while before she nodded and said she was going to change quickly. I waited on the porch steps for only 10 minutes before she opened the door quietly, locked it and led herself to my car. I knew she would be waiting for me at the diner, and I hoped Bella really hated what she saw, enough for her to finally realise that she wants me!

 **A/N: Soooo interesting stuff! Paul seems genuine in his feelings for Bella and so does she for Paul. I think they will find a way to make it work, even if the pack get in their way. As for Jacob, hmmm, what is he up to? Even he seemed to notice something was off with Sam. Hopefully someone will catch up soon and help him. As for Emily, what else has she got up her sleeve?**

 **Also wanted to take the time to say I'm writing a new story, which might be a bit random when you first start reading it, but I think a lot of people will like it (HOPEFULLY). After re-reading the Harry Potter books, I got this weird story in my head whilst reading and I thought, heck, why not just write it and share it with the world. I'm sure some of you out there will like it.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone! So sorry for the late update- I'm currently working on another story at the same time. Also, raising a child takes away a lot of my time to, so I hope you can forgive me! Now, I recently got a review asking why I'm writing Sam to be such a horrid character (nicer words) and I just wanted to clarify. This is my own story, so I've changed the characters how I would like to see them. Also, I feel like there is more to an imprint. In my story, I'm using Emily's character to show us what else there is to an imprint and how she's using it to her advantage. Sam will not stay a bad character for long, he's the Alpha, I mean he's going to figure it out soon enough, right? This is why I write in POV's so you guys can understand each character's thoughts throughout the story when stuff happens. Like Sam's POV, he understood that he didn't feel in control of his emotions and decision making, so all I ask is that you bear with and please give me a chance. But a huge thank you to the people that read and give me amazing reviews, you guys are life changers (I'm not that sad, promise) but writing fanfiction is basically the only chance I get in the real world to relax and escape reality for a while.**

 **Bella POV:**

The ride to the diner in Jake's car was certainly a quiet one. I didn't know if I was completely comfortable with this, but he seemed to want to make it up to me and we are best friends. I can let a little argument go, can't I?

"Jake look, I'm sorry we had a fight. I don't like fighting with you. We're best friends, aren't we? And I just want to make sure that-" I was cut off. A car behind Jacob honked its horn and pulled up alongside Jake's car.

"Hey man, what's up?" the stranger in the other car shouted out to Jake.

Jacob laughed "Not much man, just going to dinner with Bella here" he motioned with his head towards me. The man looked at me then back to Jake and winked at him.

"Have fun" he said, before speeding off again, leaving Jake to chuckle.

"Jacob, did you hear me? I asked if we're still best friends?" I said exasperated this time. Was he even listening to me?

Jacob started slowing the car down, we were nearing the diner now "I heard you Bells, and of course we are" he said with a smile.

Jacob pulled into the diner. It was only a short drive. After turning off the engine, he relaxed back in his seat, before turning his head to look at me.

"I really do want us to stay best friends Bells, it's just, you know how I feel about you, and it hurts that you don't feel the same" I was quickly beginning to regret agreeing to come out with Jacob. But it seemed I was the only mature one around here and I wasn't going to let us ignore each other forever. I just nodded, not wanting to speak to him yet. I mean, how did I answer that without causing another argument? We sat for a moment, in silence, before the proximity of the car was beginning to get stifling.

I cleared my throat "Should we go in then?"

"Sure, let's go" he said, opening his door, closing it with a slam and continuing on into the diner. So much for being a gentleman Jacob. The diner was busier than usual today, it didn't look like we were going to get a table. As I looked around the room, I noticed most of the customers were high school students. No such luck, I couldn't find anyone familiar. I looked to the back and saw Jacob had found a small booth. Walking over, I sat myself down on the opposite bench and immediately grabbed the menu, just to avoid the awkwardness of trying to engage in a conversation.

"Hungry already Bells?" Jacob chuckled. _Okay, let's just try to forget the fight ever happened Bella. Play nice, he's your friend._

I laughed back "Well, it's been a long day, plus I was going to make dinner for Charlie but he up and left quickly for work, so yes, I'm starving" Jacob seemed to actually be listening to me. We talked as we once did, before the fight. He asked me about school and my friends and in turn I asked him about his school. Like he was hardly there. From what I had heard from Charlie, the boy's down on the reservation were hardly at school. I thought maybe that had something to do with their patrol schedules, but I wasn't brave enough to ask Jacob. Even the mention of wolves might set him off again. It was nice to be normal with him. I was hoping I was getting my best friend back again.

"-so, that's really the most interesting thing in school at the moment" we both laughed.

I let out a sigh of relief "This is nice isn't it?" I said to him. He nodded at me with a huge smile on his face. We ordered our food, a salad for me this time and a steak for him (those wolves and their food) and we continued to talk and eat and drink like normal friends would. Like how we used to be.

"Jake, can you pass me the-"

"Jake baby!" a high pitched shrill stopped me mid question. Jake had the biggest grin on his face as he got up from his seat and met a girl in the middle of the diner. He picked her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed her like they were alone. Wow, well I never knew Jacob had a girlfriend. Some friend I was to not bother asking him. He put the girl back down onto her feet, but not before rubbing his whole body up hers. He bit her earlobe and she let out a soft moan. _Ew, okay, maybe it was the right decision not to ask him._ After their little rub up on each other, he dragged her over to our table and sat her on his lap.

"Bells, this is Lauren. Lauren, my _friend_ Bella" he seemed to put emphasis on the word. Wait a minute, I knew this girl. Lauren Mallory, I think. She was from school, and she hated me. Great.

Lauren looked me up and down before a smirk filled her smug little face "Oh Bella, from school. Why are you friends with my Jakey?" she turned to Jacob, her hands came up to hold his face close to hers, their lips brushing "Jake, I thought I was the only girl you had time for" she pouted. Jacob kissed her, open mouth, ugh, and for a while my ears were filled with the squelching sound of wet kisses. I cleared my throat.

"Jake, uh, maybe I should go" I said. I just wanted to get out of here, this was unbelievably awkward. Jake pulled away from Lauren's mouth long enough to mutter a 'no, please stay, we promise to behave' before setting Lauren down next to him. Well, at least she was off of his lap now. I continued to talk to Jacob, as if Lauren wasn't there. I thought it rude of Jacob to not ask her to leave us be. I mean, he wanted to take me out to apologise to me, right?

"So, Bella, are you seeing Paul tonight?" Jacob asked in an unforgiving tone. Did he really just ask me about Paul without getting mad?

"No, he's working tonight, we were supposed to go on a date tonight, but it's okay, we're seeing each other later" I said excitedly. Talking about Paul made me miss him, but I knew I would see him tonight and I couldn't wait to be in his arms. A look crossed Jacob's face, it looked like understanding, but maybe that was too soon in our reconnected friendship. I was probably just seeing things. But something must have crossed on my face when talking about Paul.

"I'm sorry Bella, for going off on you the other day. It wasn't cool, I'm so sorry" he gave a small smile before turning his attention to his food that he had forgotten about with Lauren's arrival. A look of jealousy crossed Laurens face. She clearly wasn't used to having no attention.

She touched Jacob's hand, which was busy cutting into his steak "Jake, did you tell Bella how we met?" she said whilst batting her eyelids. Jacob looked uncomfortable then.

"Uh, I don't think Bella really wants to hear about that" he mumbled, before turning back to his food, not meeting my eyes. Lauren scoffed.

"Of course she does, after all, she's your _best friend_ , why wouldn't she be interested?" she said a little nastily. Jake seemed to be getting a little pissed but still didn't say anything. She was clearly very jealous at Jacob's interest in me. She decided to tell me anyway.

"Well I'll tell her then shall I? We met on the reservation, I was hanging on the beach with Jessica, Mike and Tyler and we saw Jacob and his friends coming down towards us. I saw the way you looked at me Jakey" she said, giving his cheek a kiss before continuing "I knew I had to have you. It was the best night of my life. I honestly have not had better" she said with a laugh. Ugh, I really didn't need to hear that.

"Then after that night, we sort of became friends with benefits, didn't we? Then after a while, we sort of started liking each other and now here we are" she said happily. Okay, one thing was for certain, Lauren genuinely liked Jacob. But she didn't seem the type of girl Jacob would go for. She's not even Native. I thought there was a rule on the reservation about that? Whatever Lauren had going on in her life to make her a bully, deep down there was a girl that really liked Jacob in there, somewhere.

I let out a sigh "Well, I'm happy for you Jacob, and you too Lauren" I smiled kindly. Lauren was the bully, I wasn't. Lauren just grimaced at me. She wanted a reaction from me, but I wasn't going to give it to her. Jacob still had not said anything. He was finding the back of the menu fairly interesting all of a sudden.

I decided to talk to Lauren about something she loved to talk about. Herself "Lauren, you have your big birthday party coming up soon, right?" Immediately I knew I made the right decision. Her face lit up and she began going on a rampage about how amazing it'll be and how many people are going.

"-maybe you wanted to come to Bella? I've invited Angela and the guys, but it's up to you, I don't know, you might be busy-" Woah, she invited me?

"No, I won't be busy. Of course, I'll come. I'd be delighted to" I said brightly. Jacob's face had fallen considerably.

"That's great, the more people there, the better the party!" she smiled, delighted. "Jacob, you're coming too right?" she asked, looking up at his sad little face.

Jake turned to Lauren and brushed his lips against hers before replying "Of course baby, I wouldn't miss your party for the world" he said, before taking a sip of soda.

"So, Lauren, will any cute boys be there?" I asked innocently, with maybe small intentions, as Jake spat his soda out over the table.

"What the hell Bells? What about Paul?" he half yelled. Was that jealousy or genuine concern for Paul?

"Jacob, calm down, I'm asking for Angela. She's the only girl in the group who hasn't got a boyfriend. It would be nice for her, to be included. Don't you think Lauren?" It was true what I said. Lauren had Jacob and I had Paul. Angela never admitted it, but she wanted someone to want her just as much. I could see it in her eyes. The longing. The longing to be wanted and loved.

"Oh absolutely. I mean the girl has been through so much and she's had no one but us girls to help her through it. I think it would be nice for to have someone to call her own, you know. Hey Bella, maybe we should do a little match making?" she said with a wiggle to her eyebrows. Yes, Lauren, that is exactly what we should do. I already had the perfect plan forming in my head.

"Lauren, do you think I could bring Paul to the party? As my plus one?"

"Of course, girl! I'll have my Jacob, you'll have Paul, and we'll find Angela some hottie who treats her well" she beamed at me. Jacob looked like he had just swallowed a very large stone. I'm guessing this was not what he was expecting.

"So, Jake, are we cool? Friends?" I asked from across the table. He didn't speak but nodded his head slightly. And in that moment, I felt a little sorry for him. The reason he was feeling this way was because I didn't want to be more than friends with him. Even if he didn't act like it now, with Lauren around. But I had to make him realise that there are other girls out there who would be so much better with him than I would. Like Lauren.

"Awesome! This'll be a great party!" Lauren beamed. Then it had happened, Lauren and I became friends.

 **Jacob POV:**

This wasn't turning out how I thought it would. I thought when Bella saw me with Lauren she would rage. But she just didn't. She seemed happy for me. Lauren didn't know I was just using her to make Bella jealous. But she seemed to really like me. I wasn't planning for that to happen either. Sure, we had a good benefits deal going before, but then Lauren started developed feelings for me. I had never meant for that to happen. But what do I do? On one hand, I still wanted to make Bella jealous, but on the other, I didn't want to hurt Lauren in the process. _But you're good with hurting Bella?_ I knew I was being completely unreasonable. I knew that imprinting couldn't be reversed by someone on the outside. So why was I still trying? Why couldn't I give up on her? Bella was right; we were practically siblings. Maybe it was time I started being a better friend to her and start appreciating her as a friend and nothing more. Bella had left the diner in good spirits, glad to have her friend back. I was driving Lauren home. It was the least I could do for her. Maybe I should give Lauren a go too? As in, maybe I should try and make a relationship with Lauren work? It was time for me to be happy. Bella was clearly happy with Paul, heck, I couldn't even fault the guy. It wasn't my place to judge him. I knew he had a rough childhood and I was lucky enough to have been brought up by a loving dad. My mom had died when I was ten, but my dad's love never wavered. I had never really appreciated him until now. It took me becoming ungrateful for my friends and family to realise that. What kind of son was I? What kind of friend was I? Well that was going to change. No more would I take the people around me for granted.

"Jake, I'm really glad that you're coming to my party. I thought you would have said no" Lauren said glumly. I had treated her like shit. All this time, she was nothing but good to me, and I did nothing but keep her at arm's length. I knew Lauren was a bully, but I knew why. She had it rough growing up too. Her dad left the family when she was young, and her mom was busy raising her twin brother and sister to worry about Lauren. She pretty much had to raise herself and she couldn't control that. But bullying was something she could control. Like she demonstrated with Bella, she could be nice if she chose to be. It was all about control with Lauren. Not to control people, but to be able to control how she treated people.

"I wouldn't have said no Lauren, we are together, aren't we?" I replied. Her smile grew.

"Are we? I mean, it's not been made official, I just never wanted to assume-"

"-I know I've been acting like a dick lately, but I really do want to try and make a go of things with you. I really do enjoy your company, so if you wanted to try this out then-"

"-of course I do Jacob! I always thought you still had feelings for Bella-"

"-I did. Not anymore. That's clear to me now. She's with Paul and I have you. Besides, like she said before, we're practically siblings, we grew up together. It would be weird to be more" I said, a little sad. I was realising I had been completely stupid to try and push Bella into more. It made her uncomfortable and I felt really bad about that. My apology in the diner wasn't sincere enough, because Lauren was there. I was trying to make Bella jealous and wasn't really interested in giving her a proper heart felt apology. But now I was. I have to apologise to Paul too. I know he wanted to take her out tonight, I knew Sam was acting strange about it and I never defended Paul went Sam went off on one.

"I'm so lucky to have you Jacob" Lauren said with a smile before turning to look out at the window as the car sped past the houses lining the street.

I was going to make sure she knew how serious I was about giving a relationship with her a go. I was really going to try. Apologise to Bella. Apologise to Paul. Make Lauren see that I can be a good guy. These were the many things on my list of amendments.

Time to get started.

 **A/N: So in this chapter I wanted to switch things up a bit for Jacob. I didn't want to make his character bad for the whole story because he doesn't seem the type to hold a grudge for so long. I know some people think the whole Lauren/Jacob pairing is completely not right, and usually in other fanfics the relationship fails. But I wanted to change that, so I thought I'd try it and see where it goes. The next chapter we'll look at Paul and Bella again and maybe a little bit of Jacob's apology. We will see! Until next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi everyone, thank you for putting up with my slow chapter uploads! I just wanted to take the time to bring up the issue of reviews. Some of your reviews are amazing but some are literally quite scary. I will stop writing the story if those reviews continue. There is no need for them. But a huge thank you to the people that leave lovely reviews, you keep me going! I must admit I am finding it hard to continue with this story. I find I don't have a lot of time on my hands and when I get to writing, I lose motivation and literally get bad writers block, so I apologise if sometimes the chapters are not what you would like to read. I am trying my best with my situation, but I'm really trying to make them readable and worthwhile for you. Please remember, any suggestions on what you would like to see in the story, please let me know! It would help me out a lot, because I know it's what you guys want to read! This chapter mostly contains the wolf pack conversation, but I think it's important to add. As always, keep reading and enjoy!**

 **Paul POV:**

To say I was pissed was an understatement. I was so angry with Sam. I mean, how dare he talk to me like that. How did being Alpha make him better than me? It didn't! Fucking fuck! I was in wolf form on my way to the border next to First Beach. 8 fucking hours of walking around looking for fucking nothing! I mean the Cullen's never slept, so why weren't they fucking patrolling? Let us sleep and live our lives! They had their chances, didn't they? Just because Sam was Alpha of this Pack, he thought that made him God. He's got another thing coming if he treats me like that again. It's all I've ever known; violence and mistreatment. Now my father was dead, like hell was I going through it again. I escaped that shit and I wasn't putting up with it in my free life either. Ha, free life! I don't even have a choice to be a wolf! I'm bound to this Pack for the rest of eternity and I don't get a fucking choice! The rest of the guys don't understand. They think I'm just angry and bitter all the time for fun, they think it's just a joke. But to live your childhood in constant fear and imprisonment, then to be free, then to have your free will snatched away from you again, it fucks you up. It fucked me up. I knew Bella was too good for me, hell I knew that. But I don't have a choice. Of course, I wanted to be with Bella. She was the only good thing to happen to my sorry life. But I knew eventually, something would happen to make her leave me. She would realise what a fuck up I am and leave. Just like the rest of them. Just like everyone always did. Everyone always gave up on me.

I could only take so much rejection. _But she hasn't rejected you, has she?_

I reached the clearing I was supposed to be patrolling and started the long walk around. About 6 hours into it, Embry entered my head. I could see he was chilling in a patch of moss, deeper into the wood about a mile from my location.

 _Hey man, what the hell are you doing here? Where's Jake?_ – Embry

 _I would have thought Sam would have told you already. I'm covering for Jake by force_ -Paul

 _Like he tells me shit, Jake mentioned he was seeing Bella tonight, but I didn't realise you'd be covering for him. Didn't you imprint on her man?_ – Embry

 _Yeah I did, and she accepted it. Jake is just trying to fix his wounded ego by using my imprint. He thinks he can just make her like him more than friends. Like I'd ever let that happen_ – Paul

 _Really? That's fucked up. I thought Jake was better than that, but then we all know how he feels about Bella, he's always been in love with her. See man, in his eyes, you've taken away the love of his life, even if he understands imprinting. Do you know what I mean?_ – Embry

 _Yeah, I get it, it doesn't make it feel any less shit. Fuck Sam for being such a dick as well_ – Paul

 _Careful man, someone just phased in_ – Embry

 _Hey guys, what's going on?_ \- Jared

 _Oh, never mind, it's just Jared_ – Embry

 _Well nice to see you too, you little shit. Paul here?_ – Jared

 _Yeah I'm here, did you tell his Royal Highness that I've been on patrol for 6 hours already?_ – Paul

 _Yeah, he knows. Listen man, I was following Jake earlier and he looked like he was up too no good_ – Jared

 _Wait, what?_ – Embry

 _Well, I was following him into town, staying in the treeline and I saw him pick up that girl he's been banging for a while now, what's her name?_ – Jared

 _Lauren, I think_ – Embry

 _Fuck, she's the town slut, even I've had a go with her_ – Paul

 _Exactly. But I thought he stopped seeing her months ago. Why is he suddenly seeing her again?_ – Jared

 _Bastard Sam! I hate that he Alpha ordered me to let Jake take out my imprint. Well he can fucking suck my_ \- Paul

 _Paul, that's not helping. What do you suppose he's intending to do with Lauren?_ – Jared

 _I don't fucking care what he does with her, but if he hurts Bella in any way, I will hurt him, real good_ – Paul

It was one thing for Sam to talk to me like shit, but to order me on what I can and can't do with my own imprint, that's crossed a line, even for the Alpha. My Bella, God I missed her already. I could smell her strawberry scent as if she were standing here with me. The thought of seeing her tonight made me happy. At least I could fall asleep with her in my arms, my little angel.

 _My little angel, really Paul?_ – Jared

 _Fuck off J, you know how it feels_ – Paul

 _Yeah I know, sorry man, it's just weird to hear you think about that stuff. I'm happy for you_ – Jared

 _Same here, you deserve this Paul, after everything you've been through_ – Embry

 _I second that_ – Seth

 _Seth, what the hell are you doing here?_ – Paul

 _Sam is over at our place, he's trying to talk to Leah but she won't listen to anything he says. I don't blame her. Anyway, he told me to phase in and check you were behaving Paul_ – Seth

 _Fucking dick, well you can tell him I'm being a good wolf_ – Paul

 _Uh, you want me to say that first part too?_ – Seth

 _No Seth, he'd probably have my ass for real this time_ – Paul

 _You're right though_ – Jared

 _Jared, I thought you were Sam's best buddy_ – Embry

 _I am, or was, but he's changed recently. He's acting like he's better than all of us. Have you even noticed him do that before?_ – Jared

 _Come to think of it, I haven't. Seth, what was he like when he was with Leah?_ – Embry

 _Uh, I'm not supposed to talk about it. She'll tell me off_ – Seth

 _Really Seth? She'll 'tell you off' Where are you balls?_ – Paul

 _I have them, I just_ – Seth

There was a shimmer in our thoughts. Someone else had phased in.

 _Oh, this looks cosy! How's patrol going Paul?_ – Sam

 _Absolutely spiffing. What do you think?_ – Paul

 _Now, now, Paul, watch your manners_ – Sam

 _Sam, man, back off. He made a mistake this morning, it's not like the rest of us haven't missed patrol before. Why be so hard on Paul about it?_ – Embry

 _Because he deserves it, that's why!_ – Sam

 _But why though? What has he ever done to you or this Pack to offend us?_ _Paul is loyal to this Pack, he's loyal to you_ – Jared

 _He missed patrol and I'm getting sick of Jacob's shit about Bella, going on about that prissy little_ – Sam

 _Watch your fucking mouth Sam, or I'll kill you!_ – Paul

 _Is that a threat then?_ – Sam

 _Want me to talk about Emily like that? That sorry excuse for a_ – Paul

 _Watch your fucking mouth!_ – Sam

 _Exactly! Don't like it so much when it's about your own imprint!_ – Paul

 _Sam, dude, back off now or you'll have a serious problem on your hands_ – Jared

 _As our Alpha, you're supposed to lead us and keep us united as a Pack. You haven't been doing that recently Sam, what the hell happened to you?_ – Seth

 _Seth, phase out and find your sister. I still need to talk to her_ – Sam

 _Fuck no! I won't let you hurt her again. Talking to you makes her feel uncomfortable. I don't blame her, it was your mistake but she's suffering for it. You're nothing Sam_ – Seth

We all held our breaths, watching the scene unfold in our minds. Seth and Sam were close in their wolf forms. Sam pounced on Seth and immediately started tearing his flesh with his teeth. Seth's blood spattered a nearby tree, but he fought back with just as much force. If it was one thing Seth got angry for, it was his sister. Leah was a bitch to us, but not to her brother. She adored him, she loved him so much, and when Leah was in pain, Seth was also in pain. The fight continued for a few more minutes, all of us coaxing Seth into different attack positions or trying to get him to move out of Sam's way. In the end, Seth was on the floor, his fur matted with his blood. Sam's wolf was stood above him, teeth bared, coated in Seth's blood.

 _Leah will listen to me! You will go and find Leah for me and you will convince her to talk to me and that's an order Seth! Remember who your Alpha is!_ – Sam

 _Fuck you_ – Seth

Sam howled loudly, a menacing and slightly deadly howl, before biting down into Seth's neck. It was the sign of the Alpha's power over his Pack. I could see Jared was livid with Sam, wanting to go and protect Seth himself, Embry was the same, if slightly more afraid. I, however, saw red. He almost killed a pack member. Over his little crush he still had for Leah.

 _Oh, a crush is it Paul? You don't know how I feel about Leah, I still love_ – Sam

 _You what Sam? What about Emily? Does she know this?_ – Jared

 _Uh, she, uh, she doesn't. But I love Emily more, it's just, uh, you know how it ended. Leah and I were going to get married. How can I turn my feelings off for her so suddenly?_ – Sam

 _Dude, you imprinted on Emily. You know how it works. You could have fought it, if you really loved Leah. But you didn't. You just gave up on her_ – Jared

 _Maybe we should pay Emily a little visit?_ – Embry

 _Don't you fucking dare! You will not talk to Emily about Leah, you will not mention anything about my feelings for Leah to Emily, and that is an order! –_ Sam

 _Sam, you can't just throw orders around to control us, that's not how it works_ – Embry

 _Shut the fuck up Embry. I do what I want! I am the Alpha remember? Jacob didn't want it so_ – Sam

 _But maybe if he knew how you were acting, maybe he would want to take up his rightful position?_ – Embry

 _What are you saying? You want Jacob to be your Alpha?_ – Sam

 _I do. Anyone is better than you. Even if it is that little shit that wants my imprint for himself_ – Paul

 _Oh, I forgot to tell you. Sort of slipped my mind really… Emily mentioned it to me. Her and Bella had an interesting conversation the other day. She was telling Emily how much she found Jacob attractive, how she wanted to be with him instead of you. She asked Emily how she could get rid of you, how to make it easier on you. Bet she didn't tell you any of that did she Paul?_ – Sam

Fuck, was that true? I mean, I trusted Bella, but I hardly knew her. So how was I to know this wasn't true? _Believe in the imprint Paul. She accepted you. She said she wanted to get to know you._ But how do I really know that? How do I know she didn't just accept me to make it easier to get rid of me, like Sam said? _Because if she didn't want you, you would have felt it. You would have felt rejection and fear. She radiates loves and warmth when she's with you._ I knew my conscious was right, I had to believe in the imprint. More importantly, I had to believe in myself. For years, I've doubted myself, always deemed myself unworthy of others' company. Enough was enough. I was enough! I was enough for her! I was good for her!

 _You tell him Paul!_ – Embry

 _Fuck Sam, go get your girl Paul_ – Jared

 _Paul, if you even think about_ – Sam

I phased out before he could finish. I didn't care what Sam was going to do to me for abandoning my patrol with 2 hours to go. I had to see Bella. I had to know she was safe. Here I was, in the middle of the damn woods as a human. Like hell was I phasing in again, if I did, Sam would probably try to alpha order me to not see Bella. I headed for Forks, on foot, it was going to take ages to walk there, but I had to go now. I felt like something bad would happen if I didn't see Bella tonight. Had Bella really told Emily she found Jacob attractive? Did she really say that to her? I couldn't say if it was true or not because I wasn't there when the conversation happened. The only way I could get answers was from Bella herself. I was nowhere near Forks and I had already been walking for 45 minutes. I could see the edge of the trees, so I followed it along, hoping to find out where I was. I couldn't be lost. I never got lost. _Yeah, as a wolf._ I stepped out of the tree line, hoping to see something I recognised; and boy did I recognise what I saw.

Sam's truck. Sam's house. Sam.

How the fuck did I get here? I was sure I was walking the right way to Forks. Fuck! I continued through to meet Sam, he was stood with his arms folded across his chest, Emily right behind him. I was no coward. If I could get one good swipe at him before he ordered me to do anything, then I'd be happy with whatever outcome. I was about 10 metres from Sam when I greeted him.

"Hello Alpha. Enjoying the starlit sky tonight?" I said sarcastically.

"You left your position tonight" he said, strangely calm.

"I had to see Bella, you know, my imprint. Besides Embry was close by and so was Jared"

"What if they were attacked? What if a bloodsucker crossed onto our lands?" he challenged. Emily's hand tightened on his shoulder.

"Sam, the whole time I was patrolling, I didn't pick anything up. Not even a scent. Nothing. And I'm pretty sure Jared and Embry could kill a leech just fine" I was getting sick of this. Treating me like a child.

"Well, you still left your position, so you'll have to be punished" he said, matter-of-factly. I saw Emily hide a smile behind Sam's shoulder. What was she playing at?

"Hang on, why is Emily here? This is Pack business. If the other imprints can't join in on meetings, she shouldn't either" Everything Sam did was unfair. Emily was constantly with him. I would have felt sorry for the guy if I didn't want to rip his head off so much right now.

"Emily is going to be my wife soon and I say she can be here" he paused as Emily kissed his cheek "Don't you even want to know how you got here tonight, when you were determined to go to Bella?" he said with a laugh. Everything was just a fucking joke to him. He didn't care about the rest of us, hell he didn't even care about Emily as much as he lets on. It could be a good idea to let her know that, if he hadn't had ordered us not to say anything. I didn't say anything; I did want to know why I ended up at Sam's when I was going the opposite way.

"Wolves always come back to their Alphas. Whether or not they choose to. I told you not to leave your position, but you didn't listen, so I thought real hard about needing to talk to you, and look who walked on by, the man himself" he laughed. I didn't laugh. Emily was letting out a loose chuckle behind Sam's shoulder. Slimy bitch. There was something going on here, the other guys have noticed it too, but I wasn't going to worry about Emily, or Sam. I needed to get to Bella, it was almost 2am. Emily checked her watch and whispered something in Sam's ear.

"Okay, so punishment-" he thought for a minute, Emily squeezing his hand "- you're on the graveyard patrols for the next 2 weeks" he said seriously. That was it? I was fine with that; I mean I'd get hardly any sleep, but that punishment was nothing compared to what I thought he was going to do. Besides, I could see Bella during the day, no big deal. She'd understand. She'd support me. Wouldn't she?

"I'm cool with that, anything else?"

Emily turned Sam to face her, held his face in her hands and rested her forehead against his. They whispered, but even with my supernatural hearing, I couldn't make out what they were saying, or rather, what Emily was saying. Sam was just nodding at her words. It seemed they had finished their mini conversation, as Sam turned back to face me, hands in his pockets and a smug look stretched over his face.

"Actually, I've changed your punishment-" he started. No. Dread filled my body, waiting on the words I knew he was going to say. I could just turn and run for it now, before he could order me, but I'd have no chance. If I phased and he phased, he could order me wherever I was. It was going to happen one way or another, wolf form on not.

"- from now on, and until I say so, you're to stay away from your imprint. No phone calls, no letters, no contact whatsoever" It was like ice cold water hit my body. My heart was thundering against my chest, my breathing became shallow. No, he couldn't do this. A wolf can't stay away from their imprints. He knew this. Where did causing his pack pain get him off? Bella's face filled my head. The way she flung her head back when she laughed, when I caught her smiling at me from a distance, the way her fingers entwined into my hair when we kissed. No, he can't do this. I wouldn't let him.

"and that's an Alpha order" The images I had of Bella in my head, immediately vanished. There was nothing now except black. The bastard! I saw red, I immediately phased where I stood and tore across the yard towards Sam. It was as if he expected it and phased on the fly, colliding with me in mid- air. The collision knocked us back from each other several metres. I got back up straight away and bolted after Sam who was still on the ground. Claws digging into the earth, I pelted forward and lunged on top of Sam, biting and tearing any part of flesh I could get my paws on. Sam was howling in pain but that didn't stop me. It would never stop me. He took away the only thing that made my miserable life worth living, and I would kill him for it. Throughout my attack on him, he didn't seem to be fighting back. He was just lying there, letting me take chunks out of him.

 _Fight back you coward!_ – Paul

 _I'm sorry Paul, I didn't have a choice_ – Sam

 _What the hell are you talking about? You made your choice by taking away mine! You're disgusting!_ – Paul

 _It's not me, it's_ – Sam

My mind was blank once again as he phased back to human. He looked really bad. Cuts covered his entire body; some of the gashes were deep enough to see muscle. I couldn't have given less of a shit, he deserved it! I would kill him for taking my Bella away from me! And for what? What did he gain by doing this? What did he want with me being alone forever? For being in constant pain, knowing it's because I can't be close to or see my imprint. How did this benefit Sam in any way? I phased back human, standing naked as I had ripped my cut offs in my previous rage. Emily smirked when she saw me but had her arms around Sam, trying to bring him to the house. Something was going on. Sam was about to tell me before he phased back. What was stopping him from telling us anything? What did he need to say? I couldn't really bring myself to care so much after what he just did. I had ultimately been banned from seeing Bella. What was it he said? Until he could say so. She had only just accepted me and now this happens! Oh, she's going to hate me so much, but I can't tell her why I can't see her because the order also said no contact in any form. I couldn't take this. I didn't know what I was going to do. My life before Bella was a mess, I had no purpose, I had nothing! She brought light and hope with her, hope of a happier future, filled with laughter and happiness. Now that was taken from me in an instant. No. No, this wasn't happening. I wouldn't let it happen.

I'll go to the council, they'll help me. They have to. Because something was going on, and I needed answers, or my life was over.

 **Bella POV:**

It was getting close to 2am and so much excitement filled me. I was really looking forward to seeing my Paul, just to have him hold me in his strong arms. I missed him so much, and I only saw him yesterday. I wanted to start getting to know him! I wanted to go on a date with him and kiss him and – ugh – please clock, move faster. I stayed awake especially for him, to make sure I was alert when he came through my window. He deserved my full attention after such a long shift. It was almost 2am, only 5 minutes to go.

It was 2am.

It was 2.10am.

It was 2.30am.

It was 2.50am.

It was 3.30am when I gave up waiting and went to bed, disappointed and upset. He never showed. I had a feeling he wouldn't have. Maybe he changed his mind whilst on his shift. Thought about us and thought 'nah, I gave it a go, I'd be better with someone else'. That's what happened hasn't it? Oh God, my heart felt like it had dropped a mile into my stomach. I should have seen it coming. I mean, look at him and look at me. He was tall, fit and attractive and he had experience with women. I was short, had dry unmanageable hair and sure I had some curves, but it wasn't exactly enough to turn heads. Plus, I had no experience whatsoever. Maybe he realised that whilst on patrol. My mind went back to the diner with Jacob and Lauren earlier. She had invited me to her party, and I was going to bring Paul with me. Well, that probably wouldn't happen now. I felt embarrassed. Jacob was right. Maybe it would have been easier if I liked Jacob more than a friend. Maybe it would have been easier to fall in love with Jacob. Everything was easy when I was with him. I didn't have to pretend to be someone I wasn't when I was with Jake. But he was my best friend, I couldn't now change my mind all of a sudden just because Paul didn't want me. Not only that, it would break Lauren's heart. No, no, I was just going to suck it up and move on. Paul had told me an imprint could be broken but it was very painful. So, I knew if I felt pain over the next few weeks, I knew he would be trying to break the imprint.

I knew in my heart something wasn't right. But I didn't need to make my decisions based on Paul. He had obviously made his tonight, and he had hurt me. More than anyone else has ever done.

Without Paul, I feel nothing but numbness. As much as I was going to try and fight it, it was going to be a bad fight. Against my own will power. My life was not over just because Paul didn't want me.

 **A/N: So, this chapter took a huge turn! I hope it explains a bit more about some events from the previous chapters, but we've seen that Sam also knows something is happening to him, but he can't physically speak about it. What is Emily playing at? Does Bella really believe she can move on from Paul? Does she really think Paul is fighting the imprint? Next chapter we will see more of Jacob's POV and maybe a little of Lauren's POV too. Also, we'll be revisiting Emily and see what she is scheming next… Until then. Please leave a helpful review, any other reviews will not be tolerated. Remember, if they continue, I will stop writing the story. Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone, here is Chapter 13 of Unchangeable! I have read your reviews- thank you so much guys! Most of you are really nice and thanks for the pointers on what you'd like to see in the story. I know it's been absolutely ages since I last uploaded, but life has just been a priority at the moment, but I will finish this story, I promise!**

 **Anything you want to see happen in this story, please send me either a review or a private message and I will take ideas into consideration when writing. I want the story to revolve around what you guys want, so ideas please! Also, I just wanted to say, I'm having a tough time with writing styles at the moment, so I do apologise if it seems like a 5 year old has written some parts, it's really hard to get my head into the story and write from each person's point of view, but I am going over each chapter before I post to make sure it's up to scratch!**

 **Please enjoy the next chapter :)**

 **Bella POV:**

The next morning was unbearable. I didn't sleep well at all, my thoughts consumer with images of Paul. But last night, lying in bed in the darkness, gave me time to think. What if I had just jumped straight to conclusions? I probably overreacted completely. When I was with him a few days ago, he seemed completely taken with me, like he would die for me. So, it was absolutely ridiculous of me to assume he changed his mind just because he didn't turn up when he said he would.

What if something happened to him?

The hole in my chest just got much bigger at this thought. What if something did happen to him? What if he was injured or in the hospital?

I couldn't just sit here thinking about what might have happened to him, I had to go and find out. I had a really quick shower, threw a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt on and my brown military boots and bolted out of the house to my car. I high tailed it out of my driveway and drove as fast as I could (without being caught) to La Push. What if I couldn't find him? I mean, La Push was not a big reservation, but it wasn't exactly small enough for me to search every corner for Paul in a day. I'll try his house first, if he didn't come to me last night maybe he just went home completely exhausted after his shift. That seemed reasonable enough. God I couldn't believe the way I reacted last night. I mean, for a second last night, I saw Paul for what his reputation was; and now I felt disgusted with myself. Wherever Paul was, whatever he was doing, he needed me. I could feel it in my bones. Something just wasn't right. I drove past the forever welcoming La Push sign and relaxed a little. I was home. Wherever Paul was, was my home. I know I've only known the guy for a week, but he just feels like the missing piece in my life. He makes me feel strong and beautiful and independent and-

"Fuck!" I shouted, pulling the car over shakily, my whole body hunched over the steering wheel in pain. My fists gripped the steering wheel with such force my knuckles turned white. I banged my forehead against the wheel and screamed loudly, hoping with any luck it would stop the pain. There was an intense tightening in my chest, like my heart was being crushed by an iron fist. My skin suddenly felt white hot and there were stabbing sensations all over it. My heart was beating so fast, my lungs couldn't keep up. After 10 minutes of torture, the pain suddenly ceased. Painful sobs wracked my body as I tried to recover myself from what had just happened.

 _'_ _Bella, if I'm away from you for any amount of time, it's so painful for me, and you'll notice the pull if you haven't already'_

Shit! I had to find him quickly. I turned the engine of the car back on immediately at the thought of Paul hunched over in pain, ignoring my body's protests, and signalled back onto the main road. I passed through the town so fast it became a blur. My heart was still beating at a million miles an hour, but I had to keep going. For Paul. I knew where I was headed, his house. I made out the road which led to his house up ahead and turned straight in when it came up. I could see the little white house coming into view and once my front tires reached the driveway, I cut the engine and jumped out, slamming the door behind me.

"Paul!" I shouted. No reply.

"Paul please!, it's me Bella!" His house was eerily quiet. I had reached the front door and knocked loudly.

"Paul please, if you're in there, please open the door!" I shouted at the painted wood. I tried slamming my fists against the door, hoping it would cave in so I could enter, but no such luck.

"Paul, you have to be in there, please! I felt your pain Paul, let me help you! I just want you to hold me and tell me that we're okay-" I cried, my forehead resting against the door. I wasn't even going to bother holding back the tears now, I just needed him. I wanted to touch him and kiss him. I wanted to give him comfort and security, but all I was achieving now was telling my needs to a locked door. Honestly, I didn't know where else to go to find him. Maybe Emily could help me, or Jacob? I could go and ask one of the guys to help, they've probably seen him coming off of patrol. They'll tell me where he is now. Abandoning the front door to Paul's, I jumped back into the car, started the engine and began the drive towards Jacobs. I was bound to see one of the guys around here somewhere, they couldn't all hide at the same time.

 **Paul POV:**

I couldn't hate Sam more than I did right in this moment. What he's forced me to do- it was inhumane. But what made it so much worse right now was the sound of Bella's car pulling into my driveway. I could hear the fast thumping of her heart; I could smell the salty tears in her eyes. But I couldn't do anything. I locked myself in my house in the hopes I wouldn't see images of her with the other guys in their wolf minds, but whenever they were with her, even if they were memories, I only saw a dark shadow in her place. It was more painful than physical pain itself, so when I heard her approach my door, shouting for me, I froze where I sat, leaning against the front door as her voice filled my ears.

"Paul!" Sam's order was literal. I literally could not respond to her. I wanted to shout out that I was here, but nothing came out of my mouth. I held my hands against my face in frustration as my breathing got deeper. Fucking Alpha!

"Paul please, it's me Bella!" she shouted again. She sounded so desperate and it was breaking my heart. She will probably think I've changed my mind about her. I prayed that she sensed my presence behind the door she was slamming her fists against.

"Paul please, if you're in there, please open the door" The hurt in her voice filled me with incredible pain. It was terrifying to feel. She was feeling scared and hurt and betrayed. But most of all, she felt love. I could feel it in me, coursing through the imprint. That was the one thing Sam couldn't stop. We will both still feel the imprint bond, no matter how painful or how loveable it became. At least I had that to hold onto during this.

"Paul, you have to be in there, please! I felt your pain Paul, let me help you! I just want you to hold me and tell me that we're okay-" This was worse than my dad beating on me. This was the worst thing to listen to in the world. She was crying now. I heard the soft thump of her forehead leaning against the door. I stood up, quietly, and leaned my forehead against the door too, in the hope I could somehow telepathically tell her I'm in the house and I've been put under order by Sam. No such luck. After a minute or two, I heard her leave. The soft hum of her engine filled my ears as she pulled out onto the main road. Then silence. When I knew she was gone, I let out a rage filled scream.

Like hell was I going to let Sam make me lose the one thing in my life that matters the most to me. Like hell. It was time to start researching.

 **Embry POV:**

Sam was acting crazy. We all knew that; but we couldn't do anything about it. He was our Alpha and even if we tried to question him, he'd just order us to stay out of it. Sometimes I just couldn't find it in me to even bother trying to talk back to him, there was just no point. He'd just abuse the Alpha orders like he has been recently. Plus, it was totally out of character for Jacob to act the way he was lately. I mean, he was completely obsessing over Bella. We understood that he'd had a crush on her since they were kids, but most people get over it. He hasn't, and I don't think he ever will. I just hope he does for the sake of Bella and Paul. I mean, imprinting can be made null, only if one or both of the imprints takes action to reject the imprint, but I've heard it's immensely painful to even try. I still hadn't imprinted, and I was okay with that. I didn't want to be tied to one person forever. I liked my life how it was at the moment; seeing a different girl every few days. It was fun and I enjoyed it. I couldn't ever imagine imprinting; I never want too, and I hope I'm one of the defective wolves that can't do it.

I was on my way home from Jessica's house. She was a girl from Forks that I'd been seeing for almost a week now. She was fun, but damn clingy. The sex was great, but not up to the standard she preached. She star fished way too much. I was yet to be with a girl that could take me fully. Being a wolf gave me, um, bigger features, but the girls I've been with had to stop mid-way through because they couldn't take it. That was fine with me, if they wanted me to stop, I will, but I just wanted to feel satisfied after sex. Finishing myself off at the end was starting to get boring.

The village was quitter than usual, probably because it was still morning. I was only dressed in my denim cut offs, but the locals had grown accustomed to seeing us guys like this a while ago. The elders probably thought it was a new trend or something. I laughed at that thought. Imagine a world where there were no mythical creatures that turned out to be real. Imagine a world where you weren't one of those mythical creatures that turned out to be real. I was about to reach Paul's street. I hardly ever came this way, but I wanted to get out of Jessica's house fast, and I wasn't feeling like wolf travel today, so this was the fastest route on foot. I glanced up at Paul's house as I walked past, but it looked dark and quiet. Except for someone banging on his front door. It was Bella. She looked desperate and scared. I stopped walking and just waited for Paul to answer the door. I knew he was home; he had gone straight there after patrol last night, after he had seen Bella. So why was it she was slamming against his door this early in the morning? I waited on the corner of Paul's driveway, hidden but I could still see. Bella was shouting for him to come out of the house. I knew for a fact he was there. Why wasn't he answering the door? Something didn't feel right with this. After a while, Bella got back in her car and pulled out onto the main road. I took off immediately to catch up to her car, but not before I could block out the gut-wrenching scream from inside Paul's house. It was heart breaking to listen to. I ran fast and flagged her down when she finally spotted me after a mile.

"Embry" her voice was hoarse, like she had been crying for ages. What was going on?

"Bella? What's wrong?" I asked gently. Her face screwed up into sadness again and she began to cry. I pulled her out of the car and took her in my arms. I held her as she cried into my naked chest. I waited for her to talk, gently smoothing her hair away from her tear stained face.

"Bella, what happened? What happened with Paul?" I asked gently. At the mention of his name, she began to cry again. I held her tighter, but I needed answers.

"Is it something he said last night? Because he can be a dick, but he doesn't mean it, well, most of the time" I started. She looked up at me.

"He never turned up last night! He said he would see me after his patrol! He never came Embry!" What? He never turned up to see her? But he left patrol to go and see her yesterday. What the hell happened in between?

"Bella, he left patrol early, against Sam's wishes, to come and see you. Sam was being a dick to him, and he just phased out and said he was going to see you" I said, confused. Something was suspicious about this. Paul was adamant he was going to see Bella, but I also knew he was at home, as I had seen him enter his house in the early hours.

"Okay, don't worry, leave it me with Bella. Are you sure he didn't turn up at your house? He was adamant he was going to see you" I said strongly. She looked at me with sad eyes before shaking her head. No, he never turned up last night.

"I felt so much pain before Embry, when I was trying to find him. It was like I was having a heart attack" she sobbed into my shoulder. I rubbed her shoulders reassuringly, even though there was nothing reassuring about this situation. Something happened to Paul last night, and I'd bet anything that Sam had something to do with it.

"Bella, let me handle this. I'll talk to Paul. How did it go with Jacob yesterday?"

"It was actually okay. He apologised to me and introduced me to his girlfriend Lauren" she said in between sniffs.

That confused me. Jake didn't have a girlfriend that we knew of "Oh he did? We never knew he had a girlfriend. Let alone Lauren. I mean she's a bit-"

"-if you're going to say something mean about her, don't. She may be horrible sometimes, but she has her own issues to deal with-"

"-no, it wasn't anything mean, per se, it's just she's well known by a lot of the pack. If you know what I mean"

"Oh. Oh! So, she and Jacob have-?" she started but stopped. My brow furrowed. Was she bothered by Jacob being with Lauren?

"I don't care what he gets up to, it's his life. I'm just glad he's over this crush he had on me. Embry, please help me with Paul. Something is going on, and I get this feeling it's not actually his fault" she said seriously.

I told Bella to go home and get some rest, she looked like she needed it. She didn't argue for long as a fresh wave of heartbreak overcame her. She finally relented when I promised her I would find out what was going on with Paul. I turned back, heading straight for his house. As I approached the front door my phone rang.

"Jessica, what's up?"

"Oh hey, I was wondering if you were free later? I'll have a free house again and this morning was so much fun. What do you say?"

I really wanted to see her again, but I needed to talk to Paul first. I didn't know how long this thing with Paul was going to take so I couldn't promise her anything. I'd never stand her up, that shit hurt. I may only be with her for the sex, which we both agreed on, but my mother still raised me to respect women.

"I don't know, can I call you later? I'm kinda in the middle of something at the moment" I said.

"Oh sure, that's cool, okay well, I'll talk to you later then. Bye Emmy" Ugh, I didn't much like that nickname, but it sounded so good when she was screaming it in pleasure. Perhaps I won't say anything about it just yet. Pocketing my phone, I hear loud crashes coming from inside Paul's house. The front door was locked. Time for wolfie strength. I easily smashed through the door as if it were made of paper and found Paul lying in the middle of the room, his furniture completely trashed and broken.

"Paul" I said quietly, knowing he could hear me. He was sobbing loudly.

"Just go" he managed to croak out. Like hell was I leaving him like this. That would be cruel of me. I walked towards him and sat next to him on the floor.

"Well I'm not leaving until you tell me what's got you like this. I can only assume it's to do with Bella. I just had to calm her down and -" Paul sat up and looked at me, hope in his eyes.

"You talked to her? Is she okay? What did she say?"

"Well I just asked her what you said to her to make her in that state, you should have seen her man. Well, I'm sure you heard her banging on the door. Why didn't you talk to her?"

He just looked at me with sad eyes "I just don't get why he's targeting me Em. I haven't done anything to him!"

Realisation slapped me in the face. Of course, this was Sam's doing.

"So what, did Sam order you not to talk to Bella or something? Did this happen last night when you left patrol? Or after you left Bella's?"

"I never made it to Bella's. After I left patrol, I started walking towards her house, but I turned up at Sam's. They were both there waiting for me, like they were expecting me"

I didn't think Sam was smart enough to know about that. Before my dad died, he was on the council. He used to tell me these stories and they always included rogue wolves retreating back to their alphas, whether they chose to or not.

"So, Sam ordered you to stay away from Bella?" I asked.

"Dude, I can't even hear her name! It's just a muffled sound coming out of your mouth! I can't even remember what her face looks like! The only thing I have left of her is the imprint bond" he began to sob again. His shoulders shook with the force of his cries. I didn't know how to comfort a fellow wolf, but I could promise something.

"Shit, he literally ordered you to stay away from Bella. You're forgetting your imprint. That could be the cruellest thing Sam has ever done in his life, let alone as Alpha"

"Em, what do I do? I'm desperate here! There has to be something I can do to get her back. I have to be with her, it's too painful for both of us to stay away from each other and Sam fucking knows that! Why is he doing this to me? WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME!?" he screamed.

This was painful to watch. This is exactly the reason why I didn't want to imprint myself. Just watching a wolf be away from his imprint and seeing how bad they suffered was enough for me to decide. Like I got a decision in the matter.

"Don't worry man, we'll work this out. You'll see Bella again. We just have to think of a way to get rid of this order. We should keep this between us though, if the guys find out they'll blab in their minds. Sam will find out and order you to stop talking about it or something" that seemed logical, but I thought I would have a hard time holding this back from my mind in wolf form, but I had to. For both Paul and Bella.

Paul nodded and slowly got up. He started picking up the pieces of furniture from the floor, holding them in his hands before throwing them onto the floor again, defeated.

"I just don't know what to do, I thought about going to the council, but like they'd listen to Paul Lahote, bad boy of La Push that brings nothing but trouble. Doubt they'd give me the time of day" he sniffed.

I looked at Paul, this man that was broken. It had only been a few hours since Sam had issued the order, but those few hours were draining Paul. And Bella for that matter. Both of them were a mess.

I had to do something to help them.

 **Bella POV:**

Embry told me to go home, that he'd sort this mess out. I put my complete trust in him, because I was so desperate for answers. Why wouldn't Paul talk to me when Embry said he was home? I was so lost without him, damn imprint! It brought me so much happiness when it first happened but now it's causing nothing but heartache and pain. I was running out of options.

I needed a girl to talk to. I turned the car around and began the drive to Sam and Emily's. She was good at making me feel better last time, maybe this time will work too.

Pulling into the driveway, I could see Sam's white truck, telling me he was home. I parked the car and ran for their front door. I banged frantically against the wood until the silhouette of a native American woman appeared behind the tempered glass. Emily's eyes filled with worry when they found my tear stained face.

"Bella! What happened? Oh honey, come on in, I'll make you some tea" she said gently, pulling me into the house and sitting me at the table in the large kitchen. I could see Sam sitting with Jacob in the living room. Both seemed to be in deep conversation about something, as they hadn't noticed me enter the house.

Emily brought my tea over and sat opposite me.

"Bella, tell me, what's happened? What's got you like this?" she said gently, but her voice was laced with concern.

I started blubbering like a baby. I couldn't help it. It was so painful to talk about Paul when I couldn't understand why he didn't want to see me.

"It's Paul. He never came to see me last night and at first I thought he had changed his mind about me, but today when I was driving into La Push to find him, I felt this immense pain in my chest. I think it was the imprint bond Emily, so Paul must have been hurting somewhere and Embry said he was at home when I went there first and he never answered the door to me and-"

"-okay Bella, take a breath. I think I got all of that. Right let's start from the beginning. Paul never turned up to see you. Did you make plans to see him?" She asked gently, whilst rubbing her fingers on the top of my hand on the table. A comforting gesture.

I took a deep breath to calm myself "He said he had to do patrol until 2am, but he would come to my house and see me after. I waited for nearly 2 hours and he never showed. I was angry, upset and felt rejected. After everything we talked about, and the imprint, I would have thought he would be interested in me"

"Okay, but you said you feel different about it now. So, do you think he didn't show because he didn't want to be with you?" Emily asked.

I shook my head "No, at first I thought that was the case, but after sleeping on it I decided I was being cruel by assuming the worst of him, so I came here to find him. I went to his house and everything, but he didn't answer me. Embry said he was home so why didn't he answer the door and talk to me?" I began to cry again. It was just so upsetting the way Paul was acting. I didn't know if he was doing this on purpose or if something had happened to him to make him act this way towards me. It all seemed so fast, and that made is suspicious.

"Well, whatever his reasons were Bella, I'm sure he just needs time to sort everything out. Just like you did, remember?" she reasoned.

"I guess you're right. I just miss him, and he could have at least told me to my face if he needed time to himself. I would have understood, instead of getting into this panic" I huffed, annoyed with myself. So, Paul just needed time to himself. I can get that. But what about the pain I felt before? I knew for a fact that it was the imprint bond.

"You know Bella, maybe you should think about spending time with your other friends. Have some time to yourself. I know for sure Jacob would like to spend time with you" she whispered, motioning her head to Sam and Jacob, still deep in discussion.

"and besides, I think you need time to chill out and not worry about any of this, even if it's for a few hours" she suggested. Hmm she could be right. I definitely want to stop stressing so much about this situation. If Paul wanted time, I'd give it to him. He was patient with me, so I can only return the favour.

"Maybe you're right, I could ask the guys if they wanted to have a beach day or something and I'm sure I could ask Lauren and Angela along" I said. Already at that thought, I smiled to myself. Seeing the girls is just what I need. I needed some me time.

Emily smiled "Perfect, how about we make some snacks for your beach day and then you can call and invite your friends down here" she said. I nodded in agreement, and we set about the kitchen gathering different cooking ingredients to make cookies and pies. As I was weighing the flour, Sam and Jacob walked into the kitchen.

"Hello Bella. Feeling better?" Sam asked. He had a guilty look on his face.

"Hi Sam, I'm feeling a bit better thanks. You wouldn't have happened to have heard from Paul, would you?" I asked hopefully. His face got even guiltier. He shifted around nervously on his feet.

"I haven't heard from him today Bella, but I did run into him last night. He just said he needed to time to think things through. I'm sure he'll talk to you soon" he said with a forced smile. Jacob looked from Sam to Emily and then to me. He looked guilty too.

"Okay, I guess he gave me time so I'll do the same. But would you know what the pain was before Sam? It was like a tightening in my chest, I thought it was a heart attack" I laughed, trying to make light of the situation I was now embarrassed about. But I needed to know what it was. Like Paul had said, if he is in pain, I will feel it. I've never experienced pain like that before the imprint.

"Bella, have you ever just thought it might have been an anxiety attack? Emily used to get them a lot, after, the uh, accident she had. Didn't you Em?" he asked her.

"Yes, I used to get tightening in my chest. I was so worried, I went to the hospital on the res, turns out it was just anxiety" she said reassuringly.

"Oh. So, I was having an anxiety attack?" Now I felt really embarrassed. It was so like me to make a big deal out of everything. I suppose I did have a lot to be anxious about. But it all came down to Paul wanting time to think. He was nice enough to allow me my time.

"You're right, it was probably just anxiety. I do get myself worked up over silly things, don't I?" I asked sheepishly. Jacob laughed a little.

"You sure do Bells, but that's only because you care. So, now you know what it's about, do you want to head down to the beach?" Jacob asked.

I smiled, genuinely this time "Sure, only if we're all finished here Emily?"

"Yep, you're good to go, the ingredients are weighed so all I have to do is throw them all together, go on down" she smiled. I got up and followed Jacob out of the front door.

"Hey Jake?" I asked him. He turned around to see me.

"Thanks for being a good friend. My best friend for that matter" I smiled.

"Bella, it's my job. Paul will work this out, I'm sure. If not, I'll go around there and throttle him" he laughed. I did too. It was nice to laugh.

"No, please don't do that" I joked. Jacob put his arm around my shoulder and together we walked to the beach. I hope it was going to be a good day.

 **Jacob POV:**

Sam was a coward; there wasn't another word to describe him. Emily had some kind of hold on him and he couldn't or wouldn't break free from it. Now Bella is suffering because of this. I haven't gone to see Paul yet, but it's on my to-do list. What Sam has done is beyond cruel. I'll be Bella's friend, because that's what she wants and that's what she needs right now. She went to Emily for help, but she shouldn't trust her. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. She only wants one thing; and Bella already has him. Sam doesn't know it, he doesn't even have a sense of it.

Sam thought he could confide in me, tell me everything he did. He said he didn't have a choice and he originally had another plan for Paul, but then this idea popped into his mind like magic. There was no going back now. I didn't know if he had the strength to lift the order with Emily around. The Alpha wolf in me was growing; it was only a matter of time before he broke free. I'd be such a better Alpha than Sam, and by God, I couldn't wait for that day to come.

Imprinting sucks. Bella was my friend. Paul was sort of my friend. But, damn, I was going to do something to help them be happy again.


End file.
